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NEW REMEDIES: 



PHARMACEUTICAL!! AND THERAPEUTICALLY CONSIDERED. 



FOURTH EDITION, 



WITH EXTENSIVE MODIFICATIONS AND ADDITIONS. 



ROBLEY DUNGLISON, M.D., 

profe9sor of the institutes of medicine, etc., in jefferson medical college of 

Philadelphia; lecturer on clinical medicine and attending physician to 

the philadelphia hospital; corresponding secretary of the 

american philosophical society, etc., etc. 



PRODESSE QUAM CONSPICI. 



13 ' 



V 



PHILADELPHIA: 
LEA AND BLANC HARD 

1843. 



■*7-'4/.V7 



■ft 



X 



[Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by Robley Dunglison, M.D., 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Fennsyl- 






PHILADELPHIA : 
NGTON AND HASWEL1, 
PRINTERS. 



PR EFACE 

TO THE FOURTH EDITION, 



Since the publication of the third edition of this work in 1841, 
the Pharmacopoeia of the United States has appeared under the 
revision of Professors Wood and Bache and the Author. This 
has rendered it necessary to modify somewhat the nomenclature, 
and, to a certain extent, the arrangement of the " New Reme- 
dies." 

The Author has likewise endeavoured to embody all the new 
information of a therapeutical or pharmaceutical character, con- 
tained in the different scientific journals, as well as in the ex 
professo works on Materia Medica and Pharmacy, that have 
been published since the appearance of the last edition. Farther 
and varied opportunities have necessarily occurred for testing the 
value of many of the agents, and of the methods for preparing 
them. The results of these observations have been introduced. 
The labour required to accomplish this has not been trifling : 
the large amount of matter added — seventy or eighty pages — 
and the numerous alterations that have been made can only be 
accurately appreciated, however, by a close examination. The 
chief recent works consulted have been those of Pereira* Chris- 



• The Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. By Jonathan Pe- 
reira, M.D., F.R.S., and L.S., &c., &c. 2d edit. pp. 1926. Lond. 1842; and 
Amer. edit, by Dr. Carson. 2 vols. Philad. 1843. 



tison,* Bouchardat,t and Lincke,J but others of a previous date 
have not been neglected. 

The additional articles inserted in their proper places in the 
present edition are : — Alumina Sales, Jlnthrakokali, Cannabis 
Indica, Corylus Rostrata, Ferri Citras, Ferri et Quinise Citras, 
FucusJimylaccus,Fuligokali, Gentiana Chirayita,Juglans Re- 
gia, Matias, Paullinia and Platini Prseparata. 

Since the article Jlluminse Sales was written, the sulphate of 
alumina — at the author's suggestion — has been subjected to 
numerous trials in the surgical wards of the Philadelphia Hos- 
pital, and has been found a valuable antiseptic and detergent 
to ulcers. The detailed results of the observations of the resi- 
dent surgeons on this matter will be published by the author 
hereafter. 

ROBLEY DUNGLISON. 

Philadelphia, March 25, 1S43. 

* A Dispensatory, or Commentary on the Pharmacopoeias of Great Britain ; 
comprising the Natural History, Description, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Actions, 
Uses and Doses of the Articles of the Materia Medica. 8vo. pp. 978. Edinb. 
1842. 

| Annuaire de Therapeutique, de Matiere Medicale etde Pharmacie, conte- 
nant le resume des travaux therapeutiques publies en 1840, et les formules des 
medicamens nouveaux, tels que le lactate defer ; l'ecorce de tulipier, le monesia, 
le guarana, Tanthrakokali, et les preparations nouvelles d'aconitine,de pulsatille, 
de goudron, de seigle ergote, &c. Paris, 1841. 

Do. Do. pour 1841. Paris, 1842. 

^ Vollstandiges Recept-Taschenbuch in alphabetischer Ordnung nebst Angabe 
der Wirkung und Anwendung sammtlicher gebrauchlichen Arzneimittel im 
Allgemeinen, und der Heilformeln im Besonderen, fur praktische Aerzte, 
Wundarzte u. Apotheker. pp. 816, 913. Leipz. 1840-1. 



PR EFAC E 

TO THE FIRST AND SECOND EDITIONS. 



The information, concerning the remedies of more recent introduction, lies 
scattered in so many works, that it cannot be accessible to the mass of physi- 
cians. The author has, consequently, believed, that he would be rendering a 
service to the profession by concentrating the results of experience within rea- 
sonable limits, so that they may be readily available to all. The majority of 
the new agents — it will be found — have been furnished by modern chemistry ; 
and their employment has been attended with this advantage, that — when pro- 
perly prepared — they are not liable to uncertainty in their operation; whilst 
the various plants from which strychnia, emetia, iquinia, &c, are obtained, 
are liable to irregularity of action, owing to faults iu desiccation, to the season 
in which they are culled, &c, &c. — objections which cannot apply to the active 
principles when separated from them. 

Owing to the difficulty of sifting the results of true from those of false obser- 
vation, the author has esteemed it proper to give, as far as he was able, the re- 
corded experience of all who have employed the remedies in question. 

It need scarcely be said, that to make a correct observer and a good thera- 
peutist, a knowledge of every department of medical science is demanded. 
Anatomy, physiology, pathology, and materia medica are, indeed, but introduc- 
tory to the great object which the practitioner has in view — the alleviation and 
removal of suffering. Were it otherwise, it would be but necessary to institute 
empirical trials, in every case of disease, with various articles in and out of the 
received lists of the materia medica, and from such vague trials to endeavour to 
deduce what is termed " experience." 

The erroneous idea prevails too extensively, that every one is capable of pro- 
fiting by observation, and that, therefore, all who have had the same amount of 
experience, must be equally capable of treating disease. Setting aside, how- 
ever, the consideration of the differences that must necessarily result from the 
varied powers of individuals, it can scarcely be maintained, that he, whose atten- 
tion has not been properly directed to the study of the preliminary branches, 
which have been enumerated, and whose mind has not been trained in tracing 
the relation between cause and effect, can ever duly profit by mere experience in 
that which has been properly termed " the most inductive of all sciences."* 

To treat disease methodically and effectively, the nature of the actions of the 
living tissues, in both the healthy and morbid conditions, must be correctly ap- 

# Propterea sola experientia absque doctrinaet ratione incertaesl, etconjecturalis. Qui 
cnim iiovit rhabarbunmi purgnre hilem, nescit tamen quando, quibus, et cui morbo pro- 
sit, nisi sit medicus docttis et peritus. Primeros. Dc vulgi crroribus in medicina, fib. i. 
cap. xl. Atnstelod. JG3D. 



10 



PREFACE. 



predated ; the effects, which the articles of the materia medica are capable of 
exerting under both those conditions, must be known from accurate observation, 
and not until then can the practitioner prescribe with any well-founded prospect 
of success. Numerous errors would be perpetrated, were we to profess, and to 
carry out such profession, that we are guided by experience only, unless that ex- 
perience had been gained by a due consideration of all the physiological, patho- 
logical, and therapeutical bearings of the subject. In illustration of this, the 
well-known case, cited by Dr. Paris, in his Life of Sir Humphry Davy, may be 
adduced. The enthusiastic Beddoes having hypothetically inferred, that the 
inhalation of the nitrous oxide might be a specific for palsy, a patient was selected 
for trial, and placed under the care of Davy — at the time assistant to Beddoes. 
Before administering the gas, Davy thought of ascertaining the temperature of 
the body by the thermometer placed under the tongue. The paralytic, deeply 
impressed by Dr. Beddoes with the certainty of the success of the remedy, of 
which he knew nothing — soon after the thermometer was placed in his mouth, 
believing this to be the great curative agent — declared that he felt somewhat 
better. Nothing more was, therefore, done; and he was requested to return on 
the following day. The same form was then gone through with the same re- 
sults ; and, at the end of a fortnight, the sick man was dismissed cured, no agent 
of any kind having been employed except the thermometer. 

Now, if the reasoning powers were not duly exerted, experience would obvi- 
ously teach, as the result of this case, that the thermometer is an antiparalytic. 
The rational therapeutist is not, however, satisfied with this knowledge of the 
fact, for 4i fact it is." He enquires into the mode in which the effect was induced, 
and he is not long in referring it to the influence exerted by the moral over the 
physique ,• and he classes the thermometer with Perkinism, animal magnetism, and 
their congenerous arts, — amongst articles that act chiefly through the new im- 
pressions, which they make on the senses. 

It might seem to those who are unacquainted with medical history, that in 
periods approaching our own, no such illogical inferences could be deduced, and 
that it has been the custom with the profession forages, to bestow all due caution 
and the most rational enquiry in the collection of facts. Such, however, is far 
from being the case. It is, indeed, humiliating to reflect on the credulity or faulty 
observation that has existed among nations, who have successfully cultivated 
many of the other branches of natural science. It ought scarcely to be credited, 
and yet it is nevertheless true, that the aqua spermatis ranarum, or " water of frog's 
spawn," was to be found not very long ago in the Pharmacopoeia of Sardinia; 
and the aqua hirundinum cum castoreo, or " water of swallows with castor," in 
those of Manheim and Wirtemberg. The latter preparation is directed to be 
made as follows : — Take of young swalhivs bruised in a mortar, forty ; rue, two 
bandfuls ; castor, one ounce; white wine, three pints. This disgusting prepara- 
tion was given in hysteria and epilepsy Again; the bit f ones exsiccati, or "dried 
toads," were in the Pharmacopoeias of Spain and Wirtemberg, — having been 
formerly administered in powder, as a diuretic, in dropsy. In another work,* 
the author has cited many examples as strange as those instanced, and it would be 
easy to enumerate still more. 

In a recent French journal, and in an article by M. Ricord — the distinguished 
physician to the Venereal Hospital of Paris — we have an example of the perti- 
nacity with which ancient prepossessions and inculcations adhere to us, and how 
difficult it is to think and to act according to the unbiased suggestions of our owu 
observation and reflection. In the treatment of blennorrhagic epididymitis, or 
swelled testicle from gonorrhoea, M. Ricord recommendscompression to be made by 
the means of the " sparadrap," orplaster of Vigo with mercury- The history ofthis 
plaster is singular. Although still in the Pharmacopoeia of Paris, it resembles its 

* General Therapeutics, p. 55. Philad. 1336. [See, also, his General Therapeutics 
and Mat. Medica, i. 52. Philad. 1843.] 



PREFACE. 11 

prototypes but in name. In the Pharmacopoeia of Wirtemberg, it is directed to 
be formed of living frogs and living earthworms, boiled with various inert and by 
us rejected herbs in white wine and vinegar, — the decoction being strained, and 
added to olive oil, litharge, oil of bayberries, turpentine, yellow wax, olibanum, 
euphorbium, and liquid storax, all melted together. 

Yet, it is scarcely possible to conceive, that the frog's spawn could have been 
supposed to yield a product, on distillation, differing from that of other animal 
substances, when subjected to the same process; that the swallows — in the 
preparation cited — added any thing to the antispasmodic virtues of the castor, or 
that the living frogs and earthworms exerted any efficacy in the sparadrap de 
Vigo — a plaster employed for compressing tumours, and for which purpose we 
use one of simple adhesive constituents. They have all been properly rejected, 
from the lists of our medicinal agents, and are looked upon as irrational ; yet 
we are compelled to infer from the fact of their having been received, in some 
countries, into officinal publications — into the pharmacopoeias, which emanate 
from congregations of those of our profession, who are esteemed learned by educa- 
tion and by practice — that they were originally admitted under the sanction of 
fancied experience. 

In the darker periods of medical history, monstrous and revolting polypharma- 
cal preparations were introduced, and nothing but the blindest devotion to autho- 
rity or to established custom could have occasioned their retention. It is not long 
since the Theriac of Andromachus — itself but a modification of the antidotum 
Mithridatum — was dismissed from the British Pharmacopoeias. It consisted of 
seventy-two articles, and was a farrago — as Dr. Heberden observed — that 
had " no better title to the name of Mithridates than — as it so well resembles — 
the numerous undisciplined forces of a barbarous king, made up of a dissonant 
crowd collected from different countries, mighty in appearance, but in reality an 
ineffective multitude, that only hinder each other." The electuarium opiatum 
polypharmacum, of the Parisian codex — the descendant of the old theriac, with, 
even an additional number of ingredients — contains acrid substances, 5; astrin- 
gent, 5 ; bitter, 22 ; indigenous aromatics, 10 ; umbelliferous aromatics, 7 ; 
balsams and resinous substances, 8 ; fetid ingredients, 6 ; narcotics, 1 ; earthy 
substances, 1; gummy or amylaceous, 4 ; saccharine, 3. Total, 72 — and one 
of these the flesh of the viper ,■ a little more than a grain of opium — which may 
be regarded as a principal effective ingredient — being contained in a dram of the 
compound. Yet, when the question arose in the London College of Physicians, 
as to what should be the fate of this " many-headed monster," and when it was 
proposed by Dr. Heberden, that it should be ejected from the Pharmacopoeia, — 
on a division, it was found that there were thirteen votes for retaining and fourteen 
for rejecting it. Its ostracism was determined by a majority of one only, in a 
learned body, twenty-seven of whose members were present. 

Such was the fate of a " heterogeneous farrago," which, as Dr. Paris has re- 
marked, "can be vindicated upon no principle of combination," and yet enjoyed 
the confidence of physicians for ages — a confidence unquestionably founded, in 
their belief, on experience, but experience based upon defective observation, and 
consequently, on erroneous inferences — the results being consecutive rather than 
consequent, and bearing no relation whatever to the assigned cause. 

Happily, more correct ideas are beginning to be entertained on the subject of 
true experience. It is now felt — to employ the language of a distinguished sur- 
geon — Professor Liston — that the greatest number of well assorted facts on a 
particular subject constitutes experience, whether these facts have been culled in 
five years or in fifty. A better system, too, of observation generally prevails, so 
that we have discarded the absurd and revolting agents, that are still retained in 
the books of authority of some European countries. Much, however, remains to 
be done. The catalogue of the Materia Medica is yet overstocked, and the pruning 
knife has still to be applied to lop off many of the redundancies, which have been 
proved to be such, by the more accurate attention, that is daily paid to tracing 



12 PREFACE. 

the due relation between cause and effect. "To purchase a clear and war- 
rantable body of truth," as Sir Thomas Brown has well observed, " we must for- 
get and part with much we know." 

Every one will be compelled to admit, that it is the duty of the correct thera- 
peutist to doubt the existence of qualities in any article until they have been ade- 
quately proved. When such is the case, no reasoning can set aside facts; but 
unless the evidence be overpowering, it is equally his duty to remain in doubt, 
especially should reflection suggest to him strong grounds for believing, that the 
number of observations has been insufficient, that they have not been properly 
made, or are inconsequential. 

To enable the profession to form an accurate estimate of the value of remedies 
of more recent introduction, or of the older remedies whose use has been revived 
under novel applications, the present volume was undertaken by the author. 

In Germany, several works exist on this subject, and that of Riecke — to which 
the author has repeatedly referred — served as a basis for many of the articles ; 
his observations, however, do not come down farther than the year 1836. Some 
of the statements — especially in relation to the observations of certain of the 
German physicians — are given on Riecke's authority, for he has rarely appended 
references, by which the correctness of his assertions could be tested.* 

. It has been a great object with the author to furnish exact references to works 
in which farther information may be obtained, and the number of these will show, 
that he has devoted no small amount of time and attention to the subject. He 
has likewise added the results of his own experience in public and in private. 
The motto which he has selected — prodesse quam conspici — conveys, in epitome, 
his feelings. His sole object has been, "to be useful" — and if he has succeeded, 
the reward is ample. 

ROBLEY DUNGL1SON. 

Philadelphia, October 15, 1839. 

* Recently, a second and enlarged edition of Riecke's work has appeared ; but the 
therapeutical additions to it are by no means as numerous as the author had expected to 
find them. He has, consequently, made but few extracts from it in the present edition. 
It is entitled, " Die neuern Arzneimittel, ihrephysischen und chemischen Eigenschafteu, 
Bereitungsweisen, Wirkungen auf den gesungen und kranken organismus, und thera- 
peutische Beniitzung, Von Victor Adolf Riecke. Dr. Med., Mitglied des Vereins 
fur Heilkunde in Preussen, u. s. w. ; zweite, vOllig umgearbeitete Auflage. Stuttgart, 
IS40." 



NEW REMEDIES. 



I. AC'IDUM ACETICUM EMPYREUMAT'ICUM. 

Synonymes. Acidutn Pyro-aceticum, A. Ligni pyro-oleosum, A. pyrolignosum, 

Acetum ligneum, Pyroligneous, and Pyrolignic acid. 
French. Acide pyro-acetique, A. pyrolignique, A. pyroligneux, Vinaigre de 

bois. 
German. Brenzliche oder brandige Holssaure ; Holzsaure ; Holzessig. 

Pyroligneous acid, although brought much into notice — re- 
vived as it were — in recent times, is by no means the product 
of those times exclusively. The cedria, with which the Egyptians 
embalmed the bodies of the dead, it is presumed, was identical 
with it. Pliny recommends cedria, or the oil of tar, got from the 
cedar, in toothach,* and Galen unites with him.t The virtues of 
pyroligneous acid are often also referred to by Boerhaave.J 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Pyroligneous acid is prepared in chemical laboratories by the 
dry distillation of wood, especially of hard wood, which is placed 
in an iron retort heated to redness. First of all, there passes 
over a light brown or greenish fluid, which contains some empy- 
reumatic oil ; to this succeeds the pyroligneous acid, which is 
formed during distillation. If the distillation be continued, more 
empyreumatic oil passes over, and lastly tar. 

The chief constituent of pyroligneous acid is vinegar, which 
can be deprived of its empyreumatic constituents by rectification 

* Hist. Nat. xxxiv. 11. 

f De Simpl. Medic. Facult. lib. vii. See Cormack on Creosote, p. 59. 
Edinburgh, 1836; or the American edit, in Dunglison's American Medical 
Library. 

X Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel. u. s. w. S. 6. Stuttgart, 1 1837. 
2 



14 ACIDTJM ACETICUM EMPYRETJM ATTCUM. 

with fine porous animal charcoal. Besides vinegar, it contains 
empyreumatic oil (py retain); ernpyreumatic resin (pyrretin), 
a peculiar matter containing azote, and similar to an extract (an 
empyreumatic extract), and spirit of tar (spiritus pyrotignicus). 
Of late years, Reichenbach has discovered in it a new substance, 
creasote,* which seems to be the most important ingredient, its 
medicinal efficacy appearing to be dependent upon that substance. 
Impure pyroligneous acid is of a brownish colour, and of an 
acid smoky smell and taste. This is the preparation which is 
generally used externally ; but, by chemical means, the acid may 
be purified so as to furnish the aciclum aceticum empyreumati- 
cum rectification. This differs from the impure pyroligneous 
acid in containing less empyreumatic resin and extract, and crea- 
sote. The London College, again, prepare from it a stronger 
acid, the acidum aceticum fortius, which is extremely volatile 
and pungent, and is used as a revellent. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

From experiments instituted on animals, it would appear, that 
the administration of pyroligneous acid in large doses occasions 
vomiting of a considerable quantity of a frothy fluid, having a 
strongodouroftheacid; tremors of the limbs, convulsions,tetanus, 
protrusion of the eyes, insensibility, paralysis of the limbs, dys- 
pnoea, croupy cough, hoarseness, &c. The death of the animal 
supervenes with symptoms of suffocation, and the fatal termina- 
tion is often rapidly induced. Inspection after death exhibits 
manifest venous congestion in the brain, spinal marrow, lungs, 
liver, and spleen, and in the right side of the heart, — with, at times, 
inflammation of the stomach. According to Berres, it occasions 
marked narcotic effects. In by no means considerable doses, he 
found it to cause violent pain in the stomach and bowels, nausea 
and vomiting, general weakness, heaviness, vertigo, convulsions, 
and even death, without exhibiting any decided effect upon the 
vascular system. In smaller doses, it is said to produce a sensa- 
tion of burning in the stomach, and after a time to quicken the 
pulse, and augment the cutaneous and renal depurations. Others 
— and the best observers, we think — deny it any narcotic pro- 
perties.! 

As an antiseptic,its efficacy is undoubted, and this has been long 
known. Creasote is, doubtless, a main agent in producing this 
result ; and wherever the administration of creasote is indicated, 
the use of pyroligneous acid may be proper. 

* See the article Creasote. 

t Richter's Specielle Therapie. S. 255, Berlin, 1828. 



ACIDUM ACETICUM EMPYREUMATICUM. 15 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

Possessed of the properties described above, pyroligneous acid 
was at once suggested in cases of gangrene and sphacelus, in 
which it was successfully used, as well as in cachectic conditions 
brought on by the misuse of mercury, and in herpetic, flabby, 
fungous, and sloughing ulcers, mporrigo, and in toothach pro- 
duced by caries — the acid being dropped upon cotton and applied 
to the hollow tooth. In most of these cases, it was generally ex- 
hibited both internally and externally. Numerous experiments 
have been made with it in various affections by different ob- 
servers ; but its use has been more especially extolled in cases 
of gangrene, in which it corrects foetor, and promotes the sepa- 
ration of the dead parts.* The physicians of the Berlin Charite 
experimented with it in cases of sloughing gangrenous sores 
with such success, that they pronounced it an antiseptic of the 
highest order.t Besides the cases mentioned, it has been advised 
in excoriated nipples, mixed with white of egg jj in cancerous 
and scrophulous affections, in cancrum oris, in caries of the 
bones, and as a gargle in scarlet fever. It has, moreover, been 
recommended by Buchanan§ in deafness caused by deficient 
secretion of the cerumen of the ear, and in discharges of an of- 
fensive character from the meatus auditorius, as well as from 
other outlets ; in chronic inflammation of the tarsal edges of 
the eyelids, and in scabies. In gastromalacia it has been re- 
commended by Pitschaft|| and Teufel jf in phthisis by Harless, 
and in dropsy, diarrhoea, putrid nervous fevers, &c, by Am- 
pach ;** yet, as was before remarked, it is rarely employed in- 
ternally ; indeed, both externally and internally, it has been 
greatly supplanted by creasote. 

MODE OF ADMINISTRATION. 

The inequality in the strength of the preparation renders it 
difficult to fix upon any precise dose. Of the impure pyrolig- 
neous acid, Sachs administered from five to thirty drops, three 
or four times a day, in simple or aromatic water. 

* Dr. T. Y. Simons, in American Journal of the Medical Sciences, vol. v. 

f Riecke, Op. cit. S. 9. 

% Dr. Bursharat, in Gazette M^dicale, and Amer. Journ. of the Medical 
Sciences, Feb. 1833, p, 503. 

§ Illustrations of Acoustic Surgery, Lond. 1825. 

|| Med. Chirurg. Zeitung, No. 7, 1825. 

4" Annal. flir die gesammte Ileilkund. unter der Redact, d. Mitglied. der 
Badensch. Sanitatsk. 2ter Jahrg. 1825. 

+* Rust's Magazin, B. xvi. H. 2. S. 353, and Richter, Op. cit. B. x. S. 257, 
Berlin, 1828. 



16 ACIDUM ACETICFJNI EMPYKETJMATICTJM. 

Externally, it is applied both in a pure and dilute state ; in 
the former case to ulcers, by means of a pencil, several times in 
the day. It is generally diluted with simple water; but in 
cases of cancrum oris, sugared water has commonly formed the 
diluent. It. is also applied at times in the way of cataplasm. As 
a ivash in porrigo, and as an injection, it may be diluted with 
six or eight parts of water ; as a collyrium, the proportion may 
be one part of the acid to twelve of water, and it may be em- 
ployed, of about the same strength, as a gargle. 

Heim has recommended the following application in cancrum 
oris. 

Mel acidi acctici empyreumatici. 

Honey of pyrol igneous acid. 

R. Acid. acet. empyreum. crud. f.^iss. 
Mellis rosee, 3J. M. 

To be applied by means of a pencil. 

Buchanan advises the following form of injection in cases of 
purulent discharges from the meatus auditorius. 

In jectio acidi acetici cinpyrenmatici. 

Injection ofpyroligneous acid. 

R. Acid, acetic, empyreum. f.^ij. 
Aquse destillata;, f-Syj. M. 
Fiat injectio bis die utenda. 

The following drops he recommends in cases where the ceru- 
men is deficient in quantity. 

Guttfe acidi acetici empyreumatici. 

Drops of pyroligneous acid. 

R. Acidi acet. empyreum. crud. 
Olei. terebinth, rectif. 
Sp. aetheris sulphur, comp. aa. partes sequales. M. 

Two drops of this compound are to be dropped every night 
into the meatus auditorius. 



ACIDUM HYDROCYANICUM. 17 

Cataplasma acidi acetici empyreumatici. 

Cataplasm of pyro ligneous acid. 

R. Furfur, tfess. 

Pulv. sem. lin. gj. M. bene et adde 

Acid, acetic, empyreum crud. q. s. ut fiat cataplasma. 

To be applied in cases of foul ulcers. 

Linimentum acidi acetici empyreumatici. 

Liniment of pyroligneous acid. 

R. Acid. acet. empyreum. |jss. 
Myroxyl. gij. 
Vitell. ovi, q. s. ut fiat linimentum. 

To be applied on lint three times a day to sloughs and ulcers. 

Collntorium acidi acetici empyreumatici. 

Mouth-wash of pyroligneous acid. 

R. Acid. acet. empyreum. rectif. f.^ss. 
Aquae cinnamomi f.Jiv. 
Syrup, mori, f.^ij. M. 

Dr. Phobus advises this as a wash for the mouth in cases of 
cancrum oris. It should be kept in a glass vessel covered with 
black paper to prevent decomposition. 



II. ACIDUM HYDROCYANICUM. 

Synonymes. Acidum Prussicum, Acidum Borussicum, A. Zooticum, A. 

Zootinicum, Hydrocyanic, Prussic, Cyanohydric or Cyanhydric Acid. 
French. Acide Hydrocyaniqtie, Acide Prussique. 
German. Blausaure, WasserstorTblaus-iuro, Hydrocyansiiure, Cyanwasser- 

stoffsaure. 

This acid can scarcely be looked upon as new : yet it is only in 
recent times that its application to pathologicalconditions has been 
well appreciated. It was discovered by Scheele, in 1780; but its 

2* 



IS ACIDUM HYDROCYANICUM. 

preparation m a state of purity, and its exact chemical constitu- 
tion, were not understood until Gay-Lussac published the results 
of his investigations on the subject in the year 1815.* 

METHOD OF PREPARING. 

The three chief modes for preparing hydrocyanic acid, at one 
time received into the pharmacopoeias, were those of Scheele, 
Gay-Lussac, and Vanquelin ; the first of which was adopted by 
the framers of the United States' Pharmacopoeia of lS20,and by 
those of Belgium, Paris, and Ferrara ; the second, by the Phar- 
macopoeias of Paris and Ferrara ; and the third, by those of 
Belgium, Paris, and the United States. -— (Edition of 1830.) 

1. Selicele's Method. — Take of Prussian blue, 128 parts ; 
Red oxide of mercury, 64 parts ; Distilled water, 105 parts. Boil 
for a quarter of an hour, constantly shaking ; strain, filter, and 
Avash the residuum with Boiling water, 128 parts. Mix the two 
liquids together; introduce them into a flask, and add, Porphy- 
rised iron filings, 96 parts ; Sulphuric acid (66°), 24 parts : diluted 
with Distilled water, 24 parts. Shake the mixture, and keep 
the flask for an hour in cold water ; pour the decanted liquor 
into a tubulated retort placed in a sand bath, to the neck of 
which is attached an adapter that passes into a tubulated 
receiver, whence a curved tube issues that passes into a flask 
filled with water; lute the apparatus; cover the receiver with 
wet rags ; raise the heat until the liquid boils, and until there 
have passed into the receiver — 192 parts. Add to this liquid, 
of Carbonate of lime, 8 parts. Distil again, and draw off 12S 
parts, which must be kept in a bottle covered with black 
paper. 

This process of Scheele always affords an acid mixed with a 
variable quantity of water. 

2. Gay-Lussac's Method. — Take Cyanuret of mercury, 
at pleasure. Introduce it into a tubulated retort, the neck of 
which is furnished with a wide tube of glass filled with broken 
marble and chloride of calcium, which tube communicates, 
through a smaller one, with a bell glass surrounded by a freezing 
mixture. 

Pour on muriatic acid sufficient to rise above the cyanuret to 
the height of a finger • heat gradually and moderately, and 
receive the condensed product into the bell glass. 

The acid, obtained in this way, is anhydrous, and of the 
specific gravity .700. 

* Annales de Chimie, lorn, lxvii. p. 128, and torn. xcv. p. 136. 



ACIDUM HYDROCYANICUM. 19 

t Vauquelin's Method. — Take of Cyanuret of mercury, 
1 part ; Distilled water, 8 parts. Pass a currrent of sulpho- 
hydric acid gas into the solution, until the gas is in excess ; pour 
into the liquid pulverised subcarbonate of lead in sufficient 
quantity to remove the excess of sulpho-hydric acid ; shake the 
mixture constantly, and when it has no longer the smell of putrid 
eggs, and ceases to blacken paper impregnated with acetate of 
lead, filter and preserve it carefully. 

The product of this operation has been considered to approxi- 
mate to the average density of the acid of Scheele.* 

The variable density of the acid prepared after Scheele's method 
has prevented it from being generally used in medicine. The 
acid of Gay-Lussac is most commonly employed ; but as its 
degree of concentration renders it dangerous, it is diluted with 
distilled water. Robiquet has proposed to bring its density to 
.900, by adding two parts of water to it. Thus reduced, it re- 
sembles the acid of Scheele, with the advantage, that there is a 
constant and known ratio between the pure or anhydrous acid, 
and the quantity of water united with it. Magendie adds to it 
six times its bulk, or eight and a half times its weighfrof distilled 
water, and calls the mixture Acide ptrussique medicinal^ Medi- 
cinal prussic or Medicinal hydrocyanic acid. Others have 
advised the employment of a mixture of three parts of water, 
and one part of acid, under the name of Jlcide hydrocyanique 
au quart, or " Hydrocyanic acid of quarter strength.";); 

Dr. Bache asserts, that he had the process (Proust's or Vau- 
quelin's). of the United States' Pharmacopoeia (1830) repeated, 
when he found the acid obtained to have the specific gravity .998. 

In the last edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the United States 
(1842), the following form was introduced. It is essentially that 
of the London Pharmacopoeia. 

Take oi F err o cyanuret of potassium, §ij. ; Sulphuric acid, 
Siss. ; Distilled water, a sufficient quantity. Mix the acid with 
four fluid ounces of distilled water, and pour the mixture, when 
cool, into a glass retort. To this add the Ferrocyanuret of potas- 
sium, previously dissolved in ten fluid ounces of distilled water. 
Pour eight fluid ounces of distilled water into a cooled receiver, 
and, having attached this to the retort, distil, by means of a sand 
bath, with a moderate heat, six fluid ounces. Lastly, add to 



* See Not^s on Hydrocyanic; acid, by Dr. R. E. Griffith, in Philad. Journ. 
of Pharmacy, iv. 17. Philad; 1833; also, Pereira, Elements of Materia 
Medica, 2d edit. i. 429. Lond. 1842. The Dispensatory of the United States 
of America, by Drs. Wood and IJache, 4th edit. p. 748. Philad. 1839, and 
Mr. David Stewart, Maryland Medical and Surgical Journal, April, 1840, 
p. 2G4. 

| Fornoulaire pour la preparation etc. de plusieurs nouveaux medicamens. 

\ Pharmacopce Universale, par Jourdan, i. 31. .Paris, 1828. 



20 



ACIDTJM HYDROCYANICUM. 



the product five fluid ounces of distilled water, or as much as 
may be sufficient to render the hydrocyanic acid of such a 
strength, that 12.7 grains of nitrate of silver, dissolved in dis- 
tilled water, may be accurately saturated by 100 grains of the 
acid. 

When hydrocyanic acid is wanted for immediate use, the fol- 
lowing formula is recommended : — Take of Cyanuret of silver, 
fifty grains and a half ; Muriatic acid, forty-one grains ; Dis- 
tilled water, a fluid ounce. Mix the muriatic acid with the 
distilled water, add the cyanuret of silver, and shake the whole 
in a well-stopped vial. When the insoluble matter has subsided, 
pour off the clear liquor and keep it for use. 

No matter how prepared, hydrocyanic acid should be kept in 
well-stopped bottles from which the light is excluded. 

The characters that hydrocyanic acid should possess, accord- 
ing to the forms last given, are as follows: — It is colourless, of 
a peculiar odour, and wholly volatilizable by heat. One hun- 
dred grains of it produce, with solution of nitrate of silver, a 
white precipitate, which, when washed and dried, weighs ten 
grains, and is readily dissolved by boiling nitric acid. The acid 
of the Pharmacopoeia of the United States contains iwo per cent. 
of pure anhydrous acid.* 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

Hydrocyanic acid is usually classed amongst the narcotic 
poisons,t yet there is reason for believing, that its ordinary effects 
are purely sedative. Whilst the agents belonging to the class of 
narcotics produce, first of all, excitation in the organic actions, 
followed sooner or later, when the agent is in sufficient dose, by 
signs of sedation, this acid would seem to occasion the latter 
results only. 

It is the most powerful of our poisons,producing,in an adequate 
dose, the fatal result so suddenly, that the animal experimented 
upon can scarcely be removed from the lap of the experimenter 
before all signs of life are extinct. This rapidity of action is 
unfavourable to the idea, that the acid acts through the mass of 
blood, and favours the view of those who believe, that the im- 
pression is made immediately on the nerves of the part with 
which it is placed in contact, or on the nerves that are distributed 
to the lining membrane of the bloodvessels, as suggested by 
Messrs. Addison and Morgan.:}: It seems to us, however, that 

* Pharmacopoeia of the United States, p. 59. Philadelphia, 1842. 
t Christison's Treatise on Poisons, 3d edit. Edinb. 1836. 
X An Essay on the Operation of Poisonous Agents upon the Living Body. 
Lond. 1829. 



ACIDTJM HYDROCYANICUM. 21 

the same objection applies to the explanation of these gentlemen 
as to that which ascribes the effects to the poison being taken 
into the blood — that the fatal result is often too sudden for us 
to presume, that it has entered the bloodvessels ; unless we 
esteem it an agent possessed of powerfully penetrating properties. 
In very large doses, the sensibility of the whole nervous system 
becomes annihilated almost with the rapidity of lightning. 

A female, who was deceived by the odour of a solution of 
hydrocyanic acid in alcohol, drank a small vialful and died in 
two minutes, as if struck with apoplexy. A strong healthy man, 
thirty -six years of age, being detected in thieving, swallowed a 
small vialful of the acid, staggered a few steps, and fell dead, 
Four or five minutes afterwards, the physician who was called 
found him lifeless, without the slightest trace of pulse or respira- 
tion. In a few minutes, convulsive expirations were observed, 
but no indications of returning life : the face was sunken and 
livid ; the hands and feet deadly cold ; the forehead and face cold 
and dry ; and the eyes half open and glassy.* 

Dr. Damasont relates the case of a druggist, who had some 
hydrocyanic acid in a vial with a ground stopper, and, as it had 
been prepared almost three months, thinking that it was decom- 
posed, he opened the vial, and applied it to his nose to ascertain 
whether the acid retained any smell ; he instantly fell down, and 
remained for half an hour without giving the slightest signs of 
life ; but finally recovered after an illness of several days. 

Many experiments have been made on animals with this acid.. 
A drop, introduced into the bill or anus of a sparrow, induced 
death in from one to two minutes, preceded by convulsions. Even 
holding the bill over a vial filled with the acid proved fatal. A 
duck was destroyed by fourteen drops. Twenty drops intro- 
duced into the stomach of a rabbit killed it in three minutes. 
When a few drops were injected into the jugular vein, death 
supervened still sooner, A small dog, to which two drops had 
been given, experienced shortnessof breath, staggered, fell, passed 
its urine repeatedly, vomited twice, and afterwards seemed quite 
well. The same animal took, five hours later, eight drops, and 
fell into a tetanic, comatose condition, but recovered in half an 
hour. More severe but not fatal effects resulted from sixteen 
drops. Thirty to forty drops administered to dogs and cats, 
produced violent convulsions and death, in from six to fifteen 
minutes. 

The experiments of Emmert and Coullon seem to have shown 
that the action of hydrocyanic acid is more violent when it is 

* Hufeland, Journal der practisch. Heilkund. Band. xl. St. 1, S. 85 — 92, 
and Osann, in Art. Blausaure, in Enr.yc. Wbrterb. der Medicinischen Wis- 
senschal't. Band. v. S. 528. Herlin, 1830. 

f Journal deCliimie Medicale. Juin, 1831. 



22 ACIDUM HYDROCYANICUM. 

injected into the jugular vein, or inhaled in a concentrated form ; 
less so when injected into the rectum. In the case of a horse, 
into whose jugular it was injected, death occurred in twenty-one 
minutes. When placed in contact with the dura mater, or with 
nerves, no striking phenomena were perceptible. [?] This fact 
was confirmed by Viborg.* On the other hand, when received 
into a wound in its concentrated state, it acts most violently. 
Scharring, who broke a glass containing the acid, and received 
some of it into the wound produced thereby, died in an hour after 
the accident. 

It is not easy to deduce comparative results from the statements 
of different experimenters, inasmuch as we are ignorant of the 
precise strength of the acid employed. A French physician 
made some experiments on the uncertainty of the strength of 
the medicinal acid ; and found, that he could swallow a whole 
ounce of one sample, and a drachm of a stronger sample, with- 
out sustaining any injury ; but on trying some, which had been 
recently prepared by Vauquelin, he was immediately taken ill, 
and narrowly escaped with his life.t Dr. PereiraJ once caused 
the instantaneous death of a rabbit by applying its nose to a 
receiver filled with the vapour of the pure acid : the animal died 
without a struggle. A drop of the pure acid of Gay-Lussac, 
placed in the throat of the most vigorous dog, caused it to fall 
dead after two or three hurried respirations.§ 

We have already alluded to the effect of the acid when dropped 
upon the conjunctiva — a mucous surface, and therefore possessed 
of highly absorbing powers: but it cannot be placed with im- 
punity in contact with surfaces, which, owing to their being 
covered with cuticle, do not readily absorb. Orfila|| states, that a 
professor of Vienna, having prepared a pure and concentrated 
acid, spread a certain quantity of it on his naked arm, and died 
a short time afterwards. Dr. Christison,H however, says this 
was probably a mistake. On repeating some of the experiments, 
he** found, that a single drop, weighing scarcely a third of a 
grain, dropped into the mouth of a rabbit, killed it in eighty- 
three seconds, and began to act in sixty-three seconds ; that three 
drops, weighing four-fifths of a grain, in like manner killed a 
strong cat in thirty seconds, and began to act in ten ; that 

* Osann, loc. cit. S. 580. 

■j- Revue Medicate, xvii. 265, and Christison on Poisons, 3d Edit. p. 690, 
Edinb. 1836. 

X Elements of Mat. Med. &c, 2d edit. i. 437, Lond. 1842. 

§ Magendie, in Annales de Chimie et de Physique, vi. 347, and Formu- 
lary. 

|| Toxicologic. 

T Op. cit. p. 707. 

** Op. cit. p. 694. See also, Dr. Geoghegan, in Dublin Medical Journal, 
for 1835, and Pereira,Op. cit. p. 242. 



ACIDUM HYDROCYANICUM. 23 

another was affected by the same dose in five, and died in forty 
seconds ; that four drops, weighing a grain and a fifth, did not 
affect a rabbit for twenty seconds, but killed it in ten seconds 
more ; and that twenty-five grains, corresponding with an ounce 
and a half of medicinal acid, began to act on a rabbit, as soon as 
it was poured into its mouth, and killed it outright in ten seconds 
at farthest. Three drops, projected into the eye, acted on a cat 
in twenty seconds, and killed it in twenty more ; and the same 
quantity, dropped on a fresh wound in the loins, acted in forty- 
five, and proved fatal in one hundred and five, seconds. 

When given in rather too strong a dose, or — if in proper doses 
— at too short intervals, it produces headach, and vertigo, which 
go off, however, in a few minutes : when inhaled, even if diluted 
with atmospheric air, it causes vomiting, prostration, pains in the 
back part of the head, and great diminution of the arterial pulsa- 
tions. In a more concentrated state, the effects are more rapidly 
fatal than in any other form of administration. M. Robert found 
that when a bird, a rabbit, a cat, and two dogs, were made to 
breathe air saturated with its vapour, the first and second died 
in one second; the cat in two seconds; one dog in five, and 
the other in ten seconds.* 

With regard to the parts of the economy that are primarily 
acted upon by the hydrocyanic acid, there can be but little doubt 
in designating the nervous system.t In no other way can we 
readily explain the extreme rapidity of its action in fatal cases. 
When once mixed with the blood, however, out of the body, it 
altogether changes the character of that fluid, and opposes its 
coagulation.^ Some of the German writers§ have endeavoured 
to indicate three grades of its action on the economy. First. In 
moderate doses, long continued, it occasions a marked diminution 
in the action of the nervous and vascular systems ; vertigo ; dis- 
position to syncope ; epistaxis as a consequence of thinness of the 
blood, and a disposition to putrid diseases.|| Secondly. In larger 
doses, the sedative effect of the acid on the spinal marrow, and 
theabdominal ganglia, is indicated by feelings of weakness, numb- 
ness, tremors, and other involuntary motions of the extremities, 
involuntary discharge of the urine and faeces, augmentation of the 
cutaneous and urinary depurations ; palpitations, anxiety at the 
pracordia, weak pulse, and, according to some, headach, espe- 

• Annales de Chimie, xcii. 59. 

t Dr. Lonsdale, Edin. Med. and Surg. Journ., Jan. 1839, and Lond. Lan. 
June 15, 1839, p. 440. 

X Magendie, Lectures on the Blood. Lect. xvii. in Lancet, for Jan. 26, 1839, 
p. 636. On its Action when injected into the Vessels ; see Mr. Blake, in 
Edin. Med. and Surg. Journ. April, 1839, p. 339. 

$ Richter, Specielle Therapie, Band. x. S. 280. Berlin, 1828 ; and Osann, 
loc. cit. S. 527. 

|| Encyc. Worterb. B. ii. S. 313. 



24 ACIDUM HTDROCYANICUM. 

cially in the back part of the head ; excoriation of the tongue and 
inner parts of the cheeks,* and salivation. This last symptom is 
given by Dr. Christisonf on the authority of Drs. Macleod and 
Granville. J It has been suspected, however, that salivation, in 
these cases, was brought about by the use of an impure acid, con- 
taining probably a small quantity of the corrosive chloride of mer- 
cury, particularly if the acid had been prepared — according to 
the process of the Dublin College — with bicyanuret of mercury, 
muriatic acid and water. Mercury is, indeed, asserted to have been 
actually discovered in the acid by Sylvester's test. Thirdly. In 
still larger doses, it induces violent affections of the spinal marrow, 
convulsions, trismus, opisthotonos, emprosthotonos, fainting, &c. 

From the results of all his observations, Osann§ infers, that 
hydrocyanic acid acts dynamically on the nervous system, by 
diminishing, depressing, and annihilating itslife ; and, through the 
nervous system, affecting the organs of vegetation or nutrition, and 
of hasmatosis ; — that it incontestably has a specific relation to the 
spinal marrow, the ganglions of the abdomen, and the dependent 
organs ; and hence it is, that, in comparison with other narcotic 
agents, it is less stupifying, whilst it influences more deeply the 
phenomena of vegetative or organic life. He properly remarks, 
however, that the inferences of Jorg,|| from his experiments, are 
apparently opposed to this view. Jorg considered its effects upon 
the brain to be excitant, and that it occasioned turgescence of 
that or°;an. 



EFFECTS ON TIIE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

From the effects produced by the hydrocyanic acid on the 
healthy body, we may infer the cases of disease in which it may 
be indicated. It is decidedly sedative, allaying nervous irritability 
and vascular action, and therefore adapted for all cases in which 
these are inordinately excited. Yet its power, as a medicinal 
agent, is not as great as was at one time presumed, and as is still 
presumed, by many. In some countries, too, it has found more 
favour than in others. In Italy, France and England, it has been 
more extensively used than in Germany ; yet in many of the Phar- 
macopoeias of the last country it has been admitted into the list of 
officinal agents. The great objections that have been urged against 
it are — its danger, even in a small dose, if not carefully adminis- 
tered ; the difficulty of having it always of the same strength ; the 

* Born, in Rust's Magazin, B. xiii. S. 282. 

| Op. citat. p. 701. 

f Lond. Med. and Phys. Journ. xlvi. 359 and 363. 

\ Loc. citat. S. 526. 

|| Materialien zu einer kiinftigen Heilmittellehre. B. i. S. 53, 117. 



ACIDUM HYDROCYANICUM. 25 

impossibility of administering it undiluted, and the danger of giv- 
ing too strong a dose in consequence of its rising to the surface of 
water. More than once the difference in the strength of the acid, 
prepared by different methods, would seem to have occasioned 
unfortunate results. Orfila,* mentions the case of a sick person, 
who had used for a length of time the hydrocyanic acid, in in- 
creasing doses, with advantage ; when, being compelled to send 
her prescription to another apothecary,the acid he employed was 
so strong as to produce death, with all the symptoms of poisoning 
by hydrocyanic acid. For these and other reasons, Riecke, L. 
W. Sachs, and Osann greatly prefer the Aqua laurocerasi and 
the Aqua amygdalarum amararum (q. v.), which, although in 
other respects not less objectionable, are far less dangerous.! 

Possessed of the powerful sedative agency, which has been 
described, it is not to be wondered at, that hydrocyanic acid 
should have been prescribed in a multitude of cases ; and, as con- 
stantly happens, that unsuccessful trials, suggested by the merest 
empiricism, should have been made with it. 

It is rarely employed in fevers, — intermittent, remittent, or 
continued. By many it has been esteemed beneficial in hectic ; 
but here its agency must be doubtful.J 

In inflammations, especially when accompanied with marked 
erethism of the nervous system, it has been greatly extolled, and, 
next to bloodletting, has been regarded by many as one of our 
most valuable antiphlogistics. The followers of the contra-stimu- 
lant school esteem it as one of their most efficacious contra-sti- 
mulants. 

In the acule inflammations of internal organs it has been 
highly recommended by the Italian physicians, Borda and Brera ; 
in thoracic inflammation, after bloodletting, in conjunction with 
tartarised antimony and similar sedative agents ; and by others 
in enteritis, metritis, and nephritis, and in active hemorrhages. 

In chronic inflammations it has been advised by Granville, 
Magendie, Heller, Elwert, Behr, Roch, &c, especially in chronic 
catarrh, bronchitis, and hooping cough. In the last affection it 
is conceived by Dr. A. T. Thomson§ to be " the sheet anchor of 
the practitioner;" and by Dr. Roe|| to possess a "specific" (?) 
power. In warm weather he thinks it will cure almost any case 
of simple hooping cough in a short time ; in all seasons it will 



* Toxicologic 

| Die neuern Arzneimittel,u. s. w. von V. A. Riecke, S. 5. Stuttgart, 1837; 
Osann, loc. citat. and Encyclopiid. Worterb. ii. 315. 

X See the author's General Therapeutics and Materia Medica, ii. 180, 
Philad. 1843. 

§ Elements of Mat. Med. and Therapeutics, i. 435. Lond. 1832. 

|| A Treatise on the Nature and Treatment of Hooping Cough, &c, p. 10. 
London, 1838. 

3 



26 ACIDTJM HYDROCYANICUM. 

abridge its duration, and in almost every instance, where it does 
not cure, it will, at least, materially relieve the severity of the 
cough. 

In pulmonary consumption it has been recommended by 
Granville, Magendie, S. G. Morton,* Fantonetti,t and others, 
particularly where there is any inflammatory or spasmodic com- 
plication ; but others, as Neumann, Weitsch, Sir James Clark, 
Andral,J Forget,§ and, we may add, ourselves, have given it in 
these very cases without any success. By some, indeed, it has 
been affirmed, that its administration in phthisis is to be adopted 
with caution, as in many cases instead of allaying, it appears to 
have increased, the cough and fever,diminished the expectoration, 
and occasioned a sense of suffocation :|| it has been, moreover, 
asserted, that its depressing and destructive agency has acted in- 
juriously on the organism of the consumptive. IT 

In chronic nervous diseases, especially when of a spasmodic 
character — as in spasmodic affections of the heart — even when 
organic, hydrocyanic acid has been advised as a soothing agent, 
as well as in spasmodic asthma ; in the sense of suffocation 
that accompanies hydrothorax and other affections ; and in spas- 
modic dysphagia. 

Its efficacy, too, has been marked, according to Elliotson,** in 
various neuropathic disorders of the stomach, especially in those 
in which pain at the epigastrium was the leading symptom, — in 
every form, indeed, of gastrodynia ; and in painful affections 
of the boivels, of a similar character — enteralgia — it has been 
found useful by Dr. Pereira.tt 

In enlargement of the heart it was found by Heller to diminish 
the force and frequency of the pulsations, and in this way to 
afford essential relief. In an old person, labouring under ana- 
sarca accompanied by great pain in the breast, Rees observed, 
after the administration of Vauquelin's acid, great diuresis, with 
the removal of the dropsy and its concomitant symptoms.JJ 

In the asthma pulverulentum of the Germans, (Staubasthma,) 



* Illustrations of Pulmonary Consumption, p. 131, Philad. 1834. 

f Gazette des Hopitaux, Fev. 19, 1839. 

X Bulletin General de Therapeutique, Mars, 1840. 

§ L' Experience, Nov. 14, 1839; and Amer. Med. Intel., Sept. 1., 1840, 
p. 170. 

| Schneider, Med. Prakt. Adversarienam Krankenbette, Erste Liefer, S. 62, 
referred to by Osann. 

If Siebergundi, in Hufeland's Journal der pract. Heilkund. B. liii., St. 6. 
S. 15. 

** On the Efficacy of Hydrocyanic orPrussic Acid in Affections of the Sto- 
mach, &c. Lond. 1820. 

ft Op. citat., p. 443. 

%X Osann, Op. cit., and Harless Rhein-Westphal. Jahrbuch. Bd.x, St. 1, 
S. 82. 



ACIDUM HYDROCYANICTTM. 27 

that is, in the variety to which millers, bakers, grinders and 
others are liable, Creutswicher is said to have found it highly 
serviceable.* 

Its efficacy has not been so marked in epilepsy, chorea, and 
kindred affections ; yet it has been strongly recommended in 
tetanus. Trevezant ordered it in a case of traumatic tetanus, 
after opium had been given in vain, in the dose of from two to 
twelve drops with favourable results.! On the other hand, 
Klein gave it in a similar case, with no other apparent effect 
than that of rendering death more easy.J It has likewise been 
advised in spasmodic pains of the uterus. 

Yet, although it would seem to be soothing and antispasmodic 
in many cases of erethism, Grindel and Osann§ consider it by no 
means adapted for the radical cure of spasmodic diseases. 

In violent neuralgia, especially in an impressible condition of 
the vascular system, in nervous cephalalgia, hemicrania, tic- dou- 
loureux, and in gouty and rheumatic sciatica it has been extolled. 
Dr. E. S. Bonnet, || of Charleston, treated successfully some cases 
of facial neuralgia, of great severity, by applying it externally 
in the form of the distilled water of primus laurocerasus. It is 
proper, however, to remark, that in two of the three cases de- 
scribed, belladonna was employed in combination. The mode 
of applying it was by lotion, composed of oiv. of the laurel iva- 
ter, one ounce of sulphuric ether, alone, or with half a dram or a 
dram of extract of belladonna. With this lotion the affected parts, 
previously covered with carded cotton or cotton wadding, were 
kept constantly wet. 

It has likewise been recommended by ElliotsonH in the cure of 
vomiting, not dependent upon inflammation. 

These are the chief cases in which its internal use has been 
prescribed. 

It has been employed externally in the following cases. As 
a soothing agent in severe pain ; — for example, in toothach from 
caries ; one to two drops, according to Elwert, being put into the 
hollow tooth. Krimer applied it in a dilute state to painful 
luounds ; and it has been injected with advantage into fistulas. 

In neuralgia, the application of a cataplasm of belladonna and 
hydrocyanic acid has been advised by some. 

In cutaneous affections, of an itching, painful or inflammatory 
nature, it has been used with much success. In five cases of 



* Rust's Magazin, Bd. xxii. S. 335. 
f Froriep's Notizen, Bd. xiv. No. 15. S. 324. 
% Heidelberger Klinische Annalen, Bd. ii. S. 112. 
§ Loc.citat., S. 535. 

fl North American Archives of Medical and Surgical Science, April, 1835. 
^ Lond. Med. Gazette, 1831. and Amer. Journ. of Med. Sciences, May, 
1831, p. 242. 



28 ACIDUM HYDROCYAIS'ICTJM. 

obstinate herpes, Schneider used a solution of the acid in alcohol : 
in similar cases Dr. A. T. Thomson, besides the use of a purga- 
tive of calomel and colocynth, applied compresses to the parts 
wetted with the dilute acid. In two cases of impetigo, the local 
application completely allayed the distressing and intolerable 
itching and tingling, after other external applications, and. the 
internal use of anodynes, had been of no avail. The discharge 
was diminished and rendered milder : alterative doses of mer- 
cury, combined with sarsaparilla, formed the internal treatment.* 
Dr. Thomson found the lotion useful, in combination with small 
doses of corrosive chloride of mercury, in acne rosacea, and. in 
several other cutaneous affections. 

In herpes, Magendie advises a lotion of hydrocyanic acid and 
lettuce water in the proportions mentioned hereafter. 

The acid has likewise been used, in the form of glyster,in scir- 
rhus of the pylorus, in the strength of six drops of Vauquelin's acid 
to eight ounces of water ;t and in uterine pain from scirrhus, in- 
jections of the acid, combined with infusion of belladonna, have 
been employed with advantage. 

In ophthalmia, especially of the scrophulouskind, with engorge- 
ment of the conjunctiva, it has been advised by ElwertJ — two 
drops of the acid being mixed with a dram of water, and a little 
dropped frequently into the eye ; and it has been given in the ac- 
tive inflammatory stage of blennorrhcea.§ 

Lastly, when a portion of taenia has protruded from the rec- 
tum, — with the view of destroying it, it has been advised by 
Cagnola, Gelnecke, and others, that hydrocyanic acid should be 
applied to it.|| 

Such are the principal affections in which the hydrocyanic acid 
has been used. The author has often employed it internally in 
many of the cases recommended, especially in painful affections 
accompanied by great nervous impressibility, and in consump- 
tion, but he has not had sufficient reason to place it high in rank 
amongst medicinal agents.TI He has certainly had no evidence, 
that it can cure consumption when not beyond its first stage, as 
remarked by Magendie.** If the practitioner will bear in mind 

* London Medical and Physical Journal, Feb. 1822; and the author's edit, 
of Magendie's Formulary, p. 112. Lond. 1824. Philad. 1825. 

f Bernd, in Rust's JVIagazin. Bd. xiii., S. 273. 

X Ibid. B. xiii., S. 182. 

§ Ibid. B. xxii., S. 228. 

| Osann, Op. cit., and Gerson and Julius, Magaz. d. Auslandischen Litte- 
ratur der gesammt. Heilkund. B. ii., 177. Also, Hufeland und Osann's Jour- 
nal der prakt. Heilkund. Bd. lviii., St. 6, S. 122. See also Richter, Op. cit., 
S. 313. 

If See, also, Becquerel, Gazette Medicate de Paris, Jan. 13, 1840. 

** The author's edit, of the Formulary, p. 108. 



ACIDUM HFDROCYANICUM. 29 

the effects, which the acid is capable of inducing upon healthy- 
man, when the dose is carried to the requisite extent, he will 
have no difficulty in deciding upon the cases in which its agency 
may be appropriate. If not a true sedative, it is the nearest 
approach to one, in the catalogue of the Materia Medica, and 
therefore its employment is clearly indicated in all diseases in 
which there is much erethism, — administered alone or along 
with other appropriate agents. 



MODE OP ADMINISTRATION. 

After the remarks that have been made on the varying strength 
of the hydrocyanic acid, according to the particular form by which 
it may have been prepared, it is hardly necessary to say, that the 
physician must be acquainted with the character of the acid he 
prescribes. The ordinary dose of the acid of the Pharmacopoeia 
of the United States is a drop, given three times a day in a little 
sugared water : it must be borne in mind, however, that the 
specific gravity of the acid is less than that of water, and hence 
the necessity of dropping the quantity of acid at the time of using 
it, rather than forming a mixture with a larger quantity of the 
acid, which will certainly rise to the surface, if the mixture be 
put to one side : and unless the vial is shaken, a much larger 
dose may be administered than was intended. It must also be 
recollected, that the acid loses its strength by keeping. Magendie 
remarks,* that when left to itself in a close vessel, it sometimes 
becomes decomposed in less than an hour, and that it rarely pre- 
serves its integrity for more than a fortnight. 

The substances, that are incompatible with it in the same pre- 
scription, are most metallic oxides, particularly those of mercury 
and antimony, nitrate of silver, salts of iron, sulphurets, mineral 
acids and chlorine. 

The proper plan is to begin with a small dose and to augment 
it carefully until some effect is induced, but if any of the signs 
— mentioned above as indicating the supervention of the seda- 
tive effects of the acid — should supervene, it ought to be discon- 
tinued. There is no distinct evidence of its being a cumulative 
poison. t 

Magendie, it has been seen, uses the hydrocyanic acid of Gay- 
Lussac, diluted with 8.5 times its weight of water ; and this mix- 
ture he denominates medicinal prussic acid. 

The following are forms in which the acid may be administered. 

* Op. citat. p. 104. 

f Christison, Dispensatory, p. 28. Edinb. 1842. 
3* 



30 ACIDUM HYDROCYANICUM. 

Mistura acidi hydrocyaniei. 
Mixture of hydrocyanic acid. 

Melange pectoral. 

R. Acidi hydrocyaniei medicinalis, 3j. 
Aquae deslillatse, f£,j. 
Sacchari albi, §iss. M. 

A dessert spoonful of this is directed to be taken every morn- 
ing and evening at bed time — the dose being gradually increased 
to six or eight spoonfuls in the 24 hours. Magendie. 

R. Acidi hydrocyaniei (Scheele's) TT^xij. 
Vin. antimon., f.3J. 
Tinet. opii camphorats, f.Jiiss. 
Misturse camphorae, f.3vijss. Fiat mistura. 

Dose — In hooping cough; a table spoonful every four hours 
for a delicate boy four years old, to be given in some warm 
drink. The child to remain in a warm room, and to live upon 
light pudding and broth. Roe. 

R. Acidi hydrocyaniei (Scheele's), m^xx. 
Vin. antimon., f.^iss. 
Vini ipecacuanhas, f.Jiss. 
Aquse, f.^xiij. Fiat mistura. 

Dose — A small spoonful every two hours for a healthy look- 
ing female child, five years of age. Roe. 



Syrupus acidi hydrocyaniei. 

Syrup of hydrocyanic acid. 

R. Syrupi purificat. ftjj. 

Acidi hydrocyaniei medicinalis, 3> M. 

This syrup may be added to common pectoral mixtures, and 
used as other syrups are. Magendie. 



ACIDTTM HYDROCYANICUM. 31 

Lotio acidi hydrocyanici. 

Lotion of hydrocyanic acid. 

&. Acidi hydrocyanici, f.Jiv. 
Spiritus vini rectif. f.^j. 
Aquse destillat. f.^xss. M. 

This was the lotion employed by Professor Thomson in the 
cases of impetigo. 

The following was used by Schneider, in herpes. 

R, Acidi hydrocyanici, f.Jiss. 
Spirit, vini. rectif. f.^vi. M. 

And in the same cases, Magendie employed the subjoined 
formula. 

R. Acidi hydrocyanici, 5u- 
Aquse lactucee, J^ij. M. 

The distilled water of the garden lettuce probably contains no- 
thing to recommend it over common distilled water. 

Dr. Joy* advises the following lotion, in acne and impetigo, 
to correct itching ; and in ulcerated cancer to diminish pain. 

R. Acid, hydrocyan. dil., f.^i — %iv. 
Decoct, malvse, Oj. M. 

The bottle should be shaken before each appplication. 

All these formulas are objectionable for the reasons before as- 
signed ; and it is consequently better to drop the acid at the time 
of using it, taking care that it has not lost its properties. 

* Tweedie's Libr. of Med., v. 288, Lond. 1840. 



32 ACIDUM LACTIS. 



III. ACIDUM LACTIS. 

Synonymes. Acidum Lacteum, Lactic Acid, Acid of Milk. 
French. Acide Lactique. 
German. Milchsaure. 

This acid is recommended as a therapeutical agent by Ma- 
gendie.* 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Lactic acid may be obtained either from milk or from the juice 
of the red beet. In the latter case, the juice is put in a situation 
the temperature of which is between 77° and 86° Fah. After the 
lapse of a few days, a commotion is observed in the mass, which 
is known under the name " viscous fermentation," {fermentation 
visqueuse,) and hydrogen and carburetted hydrogen are evolved 
in considerable quantity. When the mass has become fluid 
again, and the fermentation has ended, which generally requires 
about two months, it is evaporated to the consistence of syrup ; 
the whole then becomes traversed by a multitude of mannitic 
crystals, which — when washed with a small quantity of water, 
and dried — are entirely pure. The mass, moreover, contains a 
saccharine matter, which affords all the signs of the sugar of the 
grape. The product of the evaporation is next treated with 
alcohol ; this dissolves the lactic acid, and precipitates several 
substances, that have not yet been examined. The alcoholic 
extract is then dissolved in water, which occasions a fresh pre- 
cipitation. The liquid is now saturated with carbonate of zinc, 
and by this means a fresh precipitation is effected, more copious 
than the preceding. By concentration, the lactate of zinc shoots 
into crystals, which are collected and heated in water, to which 
animal charcoal, previously washed in muriatic acid, has been 
added : the fluid is then filtered, and the lactate of zinc is 
deposited in perfectly white crystals : these are washed in 
boiling alcohol, in which they are insoluble ; afterwards they 
are treated with baryta, and then with sulphuric acid, which 
separates the lactic acid, which is finally concentrated in vacuoA 

* Forrnulaire pour la preparation et l'emploi de plusieurs nouveaux medi- 
camens, &c. Edit. 9eme. Paris, 1836. 

f Gay-Lussac and Pelouze, Annales de Chimie et de Physique, Avril, 1833. 
(Tom. Hi. 410.) 



ACIDTJM LACTIS. 33 

Mitscherlich* gives the following process for preparing it pure. 
Lactate of lead, formed in the usual way, is decomposed by sul- 
phate of zinc; the sulphate of lead is separated, and the lactate of 
zinc crystallised by evaporation ; this is at first yellow, but by re- 
peated crystallisations, it is obtained of a pure white. The solu- 
tion of this lactate is decomposed by pure baryta ; the oxide of 
zinc separated, and the lactate of baryta, which is in solution, is 
decomposed by sulphuric acid, and the fluid evaporated ; this 
yields a clear, colourless, syrupy, not volatile acid, which is 
decomposed, and leaves a residue of charcoal, when heated at 
a sufficiently high temperature. 

Milk, which has been suffered to ferment for a long while, and 
is treated in the same way, affords lactic acid. Corriol has like- 
wise detected it in an aqueous infusion of the mix vomica. 

When concentrated in vacuo until it parts with no more water, 
lactic acid is a colourless liquid, of syrupy consistence ; its specific 
gravity being about 1.215. It is inodorous, but of a very sour 
taste, similar to that of the strongest vegetable acids. When 
exposed to the air, it attracts moisture. Water and alcohol dis- 
solve it in all proportions. One of its most striking properties, 
which is of especial interest to the physician, is, that it quickly 
dissolves phosphate of lime, especially that which is contained in 
bones. 

EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

As lactic acid was conceived to play a part amongst the juices, 
which effect the solution of the food in the stomach, Magendie 
thought it may be given with advantage in cases of dyspepsia, 
produced by simple debility of the digestive apparatus ; and his 
experiments afforded him very encouraging results. According 
to Liebig,t however, no lactic acid is formed in the stomach in 
a stale of health ; but in certain diseases, there are produced 
from the starch, sugar, &c, of the food, lactic acid and mucilage. 

In consequence of the facility with which lactic acid dissolves 
phosphate of lime, it has been suggested, whether it might not 
be administered with advantage in cases of white gravel, or, in 
other words, of phosphatic depositions from the urine. Ma- 
gendie has not yet been able to institute experiments on this 
matter. At the time when the edition of his Formulary, to 
which we have referred, was published, he had commenced 
some clinical experiments with lactate of potassa, and lactate of 
soda, but without any results worthy of being communicated to 

* Report to British Association, 2d meeting', and Philad. Journ. of Phar- 
macy, vi. 83. Philad. 1834-5. 

t Animal Chemistry, edited by Gregory and Webster, p. 107, Cambridge, 
1842. 



34 ACIDUM TANNICUM. 

the profession. He recommends these salts, however, to the 
attention of physicians. 

MODE OF ADMINISTRATION. 

Magendie gives lactic acid either in the form of lemonade or 
of lozenges. 

Potus acidi lactis. 
Lemonade of lactic acid. 
R. Acid. lact. liquid. 3J- ad ^iv. 
Aquae, ftij. 
Syrupi, sij. M. 

Pastilli acidi lactis. 

Lozenges of lactic acid. 

R. Acid. lact. pur. 5U- 
Sacch. pulv. 5j. 
Gum. tragac. q. s. 
01. aether, vanigl. gtt. iv. M. 

Make into Lozenges weighing half a dram each. Let the 
Lozenges be kept in a well closed vessel. Of these, from two 
to six may be taken in the 24 hours without any evil conse- 
quences. 



IV. ACIDUM TAN'NICUM. 

Synonymes. Acidum Quercitannicum, Tanninum Purum, Tannicum, Prin- 

cipium Adstringens, P. Scytodephicum, Tannin, Tannic acid. 
French. Acide Tannique. 
German. Tannin, Gerbestoff, Gerbs-iure. 

This article, in its pure state, has been subjected to experi- 
ment of late years only. 

METHOD OF PREPARING. 

According to Buchner,* tannic acid should be prepared for 
medical use in the following manner. 

* Repertorium, B.xxxiv. H. 3 ; also, A. W. Buchner, Neueste Entdeckung. 
uber die Gerbsaure,u. s. w. Frankf. 1833, and Dierbach, in Heidelberger Kli- 
nische Annalen, B. x. H. 3, S. 339, Heidelb. 1834. 

For the process of M. Duval, see Annal. de Chimie et de Physique, and 
Amer. Journ. of Pharm. July, 1841, p. 171. 



ACIDUM TANNICUM. 35 

From eight to twelve parts of hot water must be poured on 
one part of powdered galls, and the mixture be allowed to digest 
for an hour, frequently agitating it. The infusion must then be 
filtered, and the residue be again treated in the same manner 
with a little hot water. The different infusions, which generally 
pass through the filter turbid, must be mixed together, and a 
little dilute sulphuric acid be added by drops, constantly shaking 
the mixture so long as any precipitate of tannic acid follows. 
The acid is deposited very soon in this way, in a collected yel- 
lowish-white, gelatiniform mass, which by the influence of air 
gradually assumes a brown colour. 

After the fluid is poured off, the residue is washed twice with 
cold water acidulated with sulphuric acid ; carbonate of baryta, 
or carbonate of potassa, is then added to it in small portions, 
carefully shaking the mixture, until there is no farther efferves- 
cence, and until a portion of the mass dissolved in water and 
tested by chloride of barium affords no more evidence of the 
presence of sulphuric acid. The yet moist mass is then put into 
a retort with alcohol of about ninety per cent., which is added 
repeatedly in small portions ; the alcohol is made to boil, to dis- 
solve the tannic acid and separate it from the sulphate of baryta 
or sulphate of lime ; the alcoholic solution is then poured off 
clear, and by a gentle heat evaporated to dryness. 

The following form for its preparation is given in the last edi- 
tion of the Pharmacopoeia of the United States (184.2). Take 
of Galls, in powder, Sulphuric ether, each a sufficient quantity. 
Put into a glass adapter, loosely closed at its lower end with 
carded cotton, sufficient powdered galls to fill about one half of 
it ; and press the powder slightly. Then fit the adapter accu- 
rately to the mouth of a receiving vessel, fill it with the sulphuric 
ether, and close the upper orifice so as to prevent the escape of 
the ether by evaporation. The liquid which passes separates 
into two unequal portions, of which the lower is much smaller 
in quantity and much denser than the upper. 

When the ether ceases to pass, pour fresh portions upon the 
galls, until the lower stratum of liquid in the receiver no longer 
increases. Then separate this from the upper, put it into a cap- 
sule, and evaporate with a moderate heat to dryness. Lastly, rub 
what remains into powder. The upper portion of liquid will 
yield by distillation a quantity of ether, which, when washed 
with water, may be employed in a subsequent operation. 

Tannic acid, thus prepared, is of a yellowish-white colour ; of 
a strongly astringent taste ; very soluble in water, and less so in 
alcohol and in ether. It reddens litmus paper.* 

* Pharm. of the United States, p. 63, Philad. 1842. 



36 ACIDUM TANNICUM. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Tannic acid is a strong astringent,* which has hitherto been 
mainly used in uterine hemorrhage, and especially by the Italian 
physicians. Portal was, perhaps, the first who tried it. He 
found it very efficacious in cases of uterine hemorrhage not de- 
pendent upon any organic mischief in the uterus. It exhibits 
its powers, according to him, even in small doses — as of two 
grains, and is well borne by the stomach. Ferrarioi likewise 
administered it with advantage in the same affection, but he 
does not consider it adapted for cases in which either partial or 
general plethora, or local excitement of the uterus, or any 
organic disease, exists : it is indicated only where pure atony is 
present. He gives it in the form of powder or pill, in two grain 
doses, six times a day. The effect, according to him, is generally 
good : the hemorrhage diminishes and soon ceases, and, at the 
same time, the strength augments, and recovery succeeds, with- 
out any disturbance of the functions. Giadorow§ details two 
cases of diabetes cured by it, when given in combination with 
opium, as in the prescription at the end of this article. The first 
patient was cured in ten ; the second in twelve days. 

According to Ricci,|| tannic acid has frequently been employed 
in Italy both in internal and external hemorrhages. On the 
other hand, G. A. Richter,*!! affirms, that he has given it in habi- 
tual metrorrhagia without any advantage whatever. Within 
the last few years, M. Cavarra** has instituted many experiments 
on animals, as well as on himself, from which he concludes, that 
when tannic acid is placed in contact with certain parts of the 
living economy, it exerts upon them the same chemico-vital 
action which it does on an inert organic tissue, or, in other 
words, it tans them as it tans leather. " These parts," he says, 
" are the mucous membranes of the urethra, vagina, intestines, 
and lungs. The action of tannic acid appears to be, to cause 
such a condensation or contraction in them, that the glands with 
which they are studded no longer afford passage for the mucus 
which they secrete." 

* See, on the action of this agent, Mitscherlich, Medicinische Zeitung, No. 
43, 1838, and Bullet. General de Therap. Mars 30, 1837. 

f Delpech, Memorial des Hopitaux du Midi, &c. Feviier, 1829, p. 51. 

\ Annali universali di Medicina, Gennajo, 1829. 

§ Annali universali di Medicina, and Gazette Medicale, Sep. 15, 1332. 

|| Bulletin des Sciences Medicales, Sept. 1828. 

% Arzneimittellehre, Supplement, p. 60 ; also, Cavalier, in Archiv. Gene- 
rales, xix. 589. 

** Bulletin de l'Academie Royale de Medecine, Janvier, 1837 ; also, Dun- 
glison's Medical Intelligencer, Oct. 16, 1837, p. 258, and Bulletin General de 
Therapeutique, Mars 30, 1837. 



ACIDUM TANNICUM. 37 

M. Cavarra asserts, that he has proved these positions by nu- 
merous experiments and demonstrations. When tannic acid is 
taken internally, its immediate effect is constipation, by arresting 
the secretion from the mucous membrane. When it has reached 
the stomach, it is absorbed, and carried into the current of the 
circulation. There exists between this organ and the vagina, 
the urethra, and the lungs, no communication except through the 
circulatory system, and, consequently, the tannic acid — it is 
fair to presume — must be absorbed to cure leucorrhoea, gonor- 
rhoea, and the most obstinate chronic catarrhs. M. Cavarra 
concludes, that of all the effects of tannic acid, two of the most 
surprising are, the cures operated by it in cases of obstinate 
nervous coughs, and the excellent action it exerts in phthisis. 
Farther experiments are, however, demanded before this last 
point can be admitted. From our knowledge of the properties 
of tannic acid, it is not easy to see how it — or any other astrin- 
gent — can be of much service in the latter malady. 

M. Amedee Latour* has highly extolled tannic acid for its 
efficacy in haemoptysis. In one case, it completely succeeded 
when other remedies had failed ; and in three cases of hemor- 
rhage to a slighter degree, it was wholly successful. M. Char- 
vett has also recommended it in the sweats of phthisis. He gives 
it in the dose of from half a grain to a grain and a half, alone, 
or associated with opium, and generally at bed-time. 

Hitter affirms, that tannic acid, prepared from dried galls, 
in the form of ointment or diluted with distilled water, is very 
serviceable in most cases of Egyptian ophthalmia. In the hy- 
peremesis, induced by ipecacuanha or emetia, it may be admi- 
nistered as an antidote. 

According to the experiments of Magendie,^ it is one of the 
substances that oppose the coagulation of the blood. 



METHOD OF ADMINISTERING . 

It may be given in the form of pill, or draught, or as a lave- 
ment, and in the dose of from a quarter of a grain to two grains, 
without producing any unpleasant constipation, but its effects 
must be observed with care.§ 

* Journal de Mcdecine etde Chirurg. Pratiq. Nov. 1839. 
f Bulletin General de Therapeutique, Mai, 1840, and Encyclographie des 
Sciences Medicales, Juin, 1840. 

\ Lond. Lancet, Jan. 26, 1839, p. 636. 

\ Cavarra, in Bulletin General de Therapeutique, Mars 30, 1837. 



38 ACIDUM TANNICUM. 

Vinum aromaticum cum acido tannico. 

Aromatic ivine xuith tannic acid. 

R. Vini aromat. f.'viij. 
Acid, tannic. 9ij. M. 

R. Vini aromat. f.fviij. 
Acid, tannic, J^ij. 
Ext. opii. purif. 3ss. M. 

Used as a local dressing to chancres. Ricord. 

The vinum aromaticum of the French Codex, used by Ricord, 
is composed of four ounces of aromatic herbs, (rosemary, rue, 
sage, hyssop, lavender, absinthium, origanum, thyme, laurel 
leaves, red rose leaves, chamomile, melilotum, and elder,) digested 
in two pints of red wine for eight days. 

Injectio acidi tannici. 

Injection of tannic acid. 

R. Vin. rubr. f.gvj. 

Acid, tannic, gr. xviij. M. 

Used in chronic blennorrhcea or what is called an old gleet.'* 

Ricord. 

In the case of the female, the quantity of tannin may be 
doubled or still farther increased. 

Pilulffi acidi tannici. 
Pills of tannic acid. 

R. Acid, tannic, in pulv. gr. vj. 

Gum acac. in pulv. gr. xij. 

Sacchar. pulv. gr. lxxij. 
Syrup, q. s. ut fiat massa in pilulas pond. gr. iv. sing. 

Dose. — One to four, morning and evening, where an astrin- 
gent is needed. Cavarra. 

* La Lancette Francaise, No. 33, Paris, 1838, and Parker, Modern Treat- 
ment of Syphilitic Diseases, Dunglison's American Med. Library edit., p. 44. 
Philad. 1840. 



ACIDTJM TANNICUM. 39 

Pulveres acidi tannici et opii. 
Powders of tannic acid and opium. 

R. Acid, tannic. 9ij. 

Pulv. opii. gr. £. Misce et divide in pulveres tres. 

Dose. — One, morning, noon, and night ; gradually increasing 
the quantity of tannin to four scruples daily. Giadorow. 

Pomatum acidi tannici. 

Pomatum of tannic acid. 

(LiparoU de tannin.) 

R. Adipis suill. 5 x 'j- 
Acid, tannic. Jij. 
Aquae pur. f-3U- 

Dissolve the tannin in the water, by triturating them in a 
glass mortar ; add the fat and mix.* 

fflml. 

Lotio acidi tannici. 
Lotion of tannic acid. 

(Hydrolotif de tannin, pour Vurethre.) 

R. Aquae destillat. f.^viij. 

Acid, tannic, gr. xxxij. Solve. 

Employed in obstinate blennorrhcea. Beral. 

* Bulletin General de Th6rapeutique, Janvier, 1838. 



40 



V. ACONITIA. 

Synonymes. Aconitina, Aconita, Aconitium, Aconitine. 
German. Akonitin. 

This active principle, which was discovered by Peschier,* and 
by Brandes, has been recommended by Turnbull.t whose eulo- 
gies on the medical virtues of the natural order Ranunculacea? 
are evidently overstrained. 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

Turnbull gives two processes ; the former being the more easy 
of manipulation ; the latter yielding a purer result, and on the 
whole being preferable. 

A quantity of the fresh root of Aconitum napellus, being 
very carefully and cautiously dried, and reduced to powder, — 
one part of it by weight, and two parts by measure, of strong 
alcohol, are to be digested together at a gentle heat for seven 
days, and the tincture, whilst warm, is to be filtered. It must 
then be reduced to the consistence of an extract, by careful 
evaporation, at a low and well regulated temperature ; the object 
of this being to prevent the destruction or expulsion of the active 
principle, which would very probably ensue, if the temperature 
employed were higher than barely sufficient to carry off the 
alcohol. To the extract, thus prepared, liquid ammonia is to 
be added, drop by drop, and mixed well with it, to precipitate 
the alkaloid ; in this part of the process care must be taken that 
too much be not added, as in some instances the product appears 
to have been decomposed by inattention to this circumstance. 
It is not easy to give a precise rule as to the quantity; but 
enough will have been added, if the extract exhales the odour 
of ammonia when stirred. The mass now consists of impure 
aconitia, mixed with a quantity of extractive, and other matters 
soluble in water, and it may be taken up either by boiling alco- 
hol, or by sulphuric ether ; or the soluble matter may be removed 
by repeated washings with small quantities of cold water, which 
will leave the aconitia. This latter process, Turnbull says, is 

* Trommsdorffs Journal der Pharmacie, v. 84. 

| On the medical properties of the natural order Ranunculaceae, and more 
particularly on the uses of sabadilla seeds, delphinium staphysagria and. 
aconitum napellus, and their alcaloids, veratria, sabadilline, delphinia and 
aconitine, chap. iii. Lond. 1835. 



ACONITIA. 41 

the one he has generally employed, and it is performed by 
pouring a little water on the extract, arid mixing them carefully 
together ; then allowing the undissolved part to subside, pouring 
off the fluid, and repeating the operation as long as any soluble 
matter is taken up : a quantity of light brown or gray powder is 
left, which may be purified by subsequent solution in alcohol. 
This powder contains the active properties of the aconite, in a 
high degree of concentration. 

The second process consists in dissolving the alcoholic extract, 
prepared as above, without the addition of the ammonia, in as 
much cold ivater as will take it up, and carefully decanting the 
solution from the insoluble part, and filtering it. To the filtered 
solution liquid ammonia is to be added, drop by drop, as long as 
any precipitation is occasioned. When the precipitate has subsided, 
the supernatant fluid must be carefully poured off, or drawn off by 
means of a syphon ; and after the precipitate has been deprived 
of as much of the fluid as possible, it should be purified by a suffi- 
cient number of washings with small quantities of cold water, or, 
what is better, it may be dissolved in as much alcohol as will 
take it up, and the solution be thrown into cold ivater ; the 
precipitate thus formed is to be carefully dried. The product 
obtained by this process is white. 

The London College, in their Pharmacopoeia, of 1836, give 
the following form : — Take of aconite root, dried and bruised, 
two pounds ; rectified spirit, three gallons ; dilute sulphuric 
acid, solution of ammonia, and purified animal charcoal, of 
each a sufficient quantity. Boil the aconite with a gallon of 
the spirit for an hour, in a retort with a receiver fitted to 
it. Pour off the liquor, and again boil the residue with an- 
other gallon of the spirit, and with the spirit recently distilled, 
and pour off the liquor also. Let the same be done a third time. 
Then press the aconite, and having mixed all the liquors and 
filtered them, distil the spirit. Evaporate the remainder to the 
proper consistence of an extract. Dissolve this in water and 
filter. Evaporate the solution with a gentle heat, so that it may 
thicken like syrup. To this add dilute sulphuric acid, mixed 
with distilled water sufficient to dissolve the aconitia. Next drop 
in solution of ammonia, and dissolve the aconitia which is thrown 
down in dilute sulphuric acid, mixed as before with water ; then 
mix in the animal charcoal, occasionally shaking for a quarter of 
an hour. Lastly, filter ; and having again dropped in solution of 
ammonia so as to precipitate the aconitia, wash and dry it. 

Well prepared aconitia, according to Geiger, is a firm, 

colourless, and translucent mass ; of a shining appearance, friable 

and inodorous : the taste is disagreeably bitter, leaving behind it 

an acrid sensation in the throat, but not corrosive or burning. 

4* 



42 ACONITIA. 

It does not dissolve readily in water ; at the ordinary tempera- 
ture requiring one hundred and fifty parts thereof, but only fifty 
parts of boiling water. It is soluble in alcohol, and in ether. Tinc- 
ture of iodine occasions in the solution a reddish-brown precipi- 
tate ; the tincture of galls a white one. It forms, with the acids, 
for the most part, salts that are not crystallisable, which readily 
dissolve both in water and alcohol. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The effects of aconitia appear to be essentially analogous to 
those of delphinia. A grain of the first of the two preparations 
described by Turnbull was dissolved in a dram of alcohol ; 
twenty drops of the solution put into the mouth of a guinea-pig 
occasioned death in a few minutes. Other experiments, too, have 
been performed, all of which demonstrate the extreme activity of 
the substance. If a grain or two of aconitia or veratria or 
delphinia be mixed with a little lard, or dissolved in a dram of 
alcohol, and a small quantity be rubbed on the skin, a sensation 
of heat and tingling is experienced after the friction has been per- 
severed in for a minute or two. There is a slight difference, how- 
ever, in the effects produced, and the resemblance is greatest 
between those of delphinia and aconitia. 

When a small quantity of aconitia, says Turnbull, either made 
into an ointment, or dissolved in alcohol, is rubbed for a minute 
or two upon the skin, a sensation of heat and prickling is 
experienced ; to this succeeds a feeling of numbness and con- 
striction in the part, as if a heavy weight were laid upon it, or as 
if the skin were drawn together by the powerful and involuntary 
contraction of the muscles beneath. This effect lasts from two 
or three to twelve or more hours, according to the quantity rub- 
bed in. So small a portion as the one hundredth part of a grain 
has produced a sensation that has continued a whole day. A 
minute portion of it mixed with lard, and applied to the eye oc- 
casions contraction of the pupil according to Dr. Pereira, whilst 
Geiger and Hesse affirm that the aconitia which they obtained 
produced dilatation of the pupil. Dr. Pereira states, that the 
aconitia prepared by Mr. Morson of London is so powerful, that 
one-fiftieth of a grain has endangered the life of an individual. 
It is, he considers, the most virulent poison known, not excepting 
hydrocyanic acid.* 

Whilst employing aconite itself in hisclinical practice, Dr. Lom- 
bard,! of Geneva, tried its effects on animals, and chiefly in refer- 

* Elements of Mat. Med. &c, 2d edit. ii. 1811. Lond. 1842. 
f Gazette Medicale de Paris, Oct. 10, 1835. 



ACONITIA. 43 

ence to its action on the heart. The experiments were made on 
frogs, whose hearts beat with great regularity, and for a consi- 
derable time after the animal has been mutilated. The medicine 
was introduced into the stomach or applied locally to the heart, 
which was laid bare after the animal had been stupified by blows 
on the head. He found, that aconite employed internally ren- 
dered the pulsations less frequent, without irregularity, and con- 
sequently that it exerted a decidedly sedative effect on the heart ; 
whence he infers, that it is a proper remedy in active diseases of 
the heart, and indeed in inflammatory affections in general, in 
which he exhibited it with success. In cases of poisoning by it, 
the contractions of the heart have been found diminished and 
almost suspended.* The homceopathists regard it to be an 
energetic antiphlogistic. 

The diseases, in which Turnbull chiefly employed aconitia 
externally, were of the neuralgic kind ; but he used it as well in 
gouty and rheumatic cases, and its success, he remarks, fully 
answered his anticipations. He employs it either in the form of 
solution in alcohol, in the proportion of one or more grains to the 
dram, — or of ointment, made according to the following formula : 

$. Aconitiae, gr. ij. 

Alcohol, gtt. vj. Tere optime et adde 
Adipis, 3j. ut fiat unguentum. 

The alcohol is added to prevent the aconitia from forming a 
thick compound with part of the lard, so as to render it difficult to 
make a proper ointment. In one case of tic douloureux, of 
extreme severity, as much as eight grains was prescribed in the 
ointment with the most marked benefit. The best mode of 
applying it is simply to rub a small portion of it over the whole 
seat of the affection, until the pain is either for the time removed, 
or until the full effect', described above, is induced on the cutaneous 
nerves ; and the friction should be repeated three or four times, 
or more frequently, during the day, according to the effect on 
the disease ; the proportion of the aconitia being increased at 
every second or third rubbing. 

Turnbull found, in the case of the aconitia — as well as in 
that of veratria, and delphinia — that unless the friction occa- 
sioned a full development of the peculiar impressions caused by 
the aconitia when rubbed on the skin, no benefit whatever was 
to be looked for from its employment ; and he observes, that if 
there be the slightest abrasion of the skin, an application of such 

• Orfila, Toxicologie, ii. 221. 



44 ACONITIA. 

activity should not be resorted to ; and that it should be care- 
fully kept from coming in contact with any of the mucous mem- 
branes. 

Mr. F. C. Skey* details two cases which were cured by it. It 
was rubbed down into an ointment with lard, in the proportion of 
one grain of the former to one dram of the latter, and applied in 
a small quantity by the forefinger over the track of the painful 
nerve, and was gently rubbed or rather smeared over the surface 
for half a minute or longer, once or twice a day, according to 
the degree of pain. 

Turnbull likewise advises the external application of an 
ammoniated extract of aconite, which is made by evapo- 
rating very carefully, and at a low temperature, the tincture of 
the dried root of the plant, prepared as directed in the process 
for obtaining aconitia, to the consistence of an extract. To 
every dram of this, eight or ten drops of liquor ammonise should 
be added, and after the mixture has stood a short time in a 
very gentle heat, to drive off the excess of ammonia, it may 
be used in the form of an ointment, according to the following 
prescription : 



Ungucntum extracti aconiti ammoniati. 

Ointment of ammoniated extract of aconite. 

R Ext. aconit. ammon. 2j. 

Adipis. 3iij- Misce ut fiat unguentum. 

When this ointment is rubbed upon the skin, it occasions sen- 
sations in the parts similar to those produced by the aconitia oint- 
ment : they are, however, rather more pungent. 

In less severe cases, Turnbull advises the simple saturated 
tincture of the dried roots, with or without the addition of a little 
ammonia. The external use of the tincture of aconite has been 
recommended in neuralgia and chronic rheumatism, by Dr. Pe- 
reirat and Mr. Jos. Curtis. J 

The alcoholic extract of aconite — Extractum aconiti alco- 
holicum — which is officinal in the last edition of the Pharma- 
copoeia of the United States, 1842 — has likewise been advised by 

* London Med. Gaz. Nov. 5, 1836. 

t Elements of Materia Medica, 2d edit. ii. 1808. Lond. 1842. 

X -Lond. Lancet, June 26,1841. 



ACUPUNCTURA. 45 

Dr. Lombard, of Geneva,* in articular rheumatism. He gives 
it in doses of half a grain every two hours, and gradually aug- 
ments the dose to six or nine grains in the same period. 

A case of poisoning by five grains of this extract — from which, 
however, the patient recovered — has been published by M. E. 
L. Pereyra, of Bordeaux.! 



VI. ACUPUNCTU'RA. 

Synonymes. Acupuncture ; Acupuncturation. 
German. Die Akupunktur; der Nadelslich. 

Although acupuncturation is really an ancient therapeutical 
agent, attention to it has been so much revived of late years, and 
its use has been so largely extended, that it may be looked upon 
as constituting one of the novelties of therapeutics. 

It consists in the introduction of needles into different parts of 
the body with a view of removing or mitigating disease ; and 
appears to have been entirely unknown to the Grecian, Roman, 
and Arabian physicians. J From the most ancient times, however, 
it has been in use with the Chinese and Japanese, by whom it 
was regarded as one of the most important of remedial agencies. 
By these people it was systematically taught onappropriate phan- 
toms or mannekins, called Tsoe-Bosi, and the practice of the 
operation was permitted to those only who were able to pass a 
rigid examination thereon. In Europe, it was first known about 
160 years ago, from the writings of a Dutch surgeon, Ten- 
Rhyne, who wrote in 1683 ;§ and attention was subsequently 
drawn to it by Kampfer ;|| but after this it was almost forgotten, 
until Berlioz, in 1816, drew attention to its employment. His 
example was soon followed by Beclard,H Bretonneau,** 
Haime,tt Demours,JJ Sarlandiere,§§ Pelletan, Segalas, Dantu, 
Velpeau, Meyranx,|||| Dance, in France; by Churchill, Scott, 

* Gazette Medicale, Juin 28, 1834. See, also, Dr. Sigmond, in Lancet for 
August 5, 1837. 

f La Laneette Franchise, No. 37, Mars 26, 1839. 

X V. A. Kiecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel u. s. w. S. 12, Stuttgart, 1837. 

§ Mantissa schematica de Acupuncture ad dissert, de Arthritide. London, 
1683. 

|| Amoenitat. exotic, politico-physico-medic. p. 583. Lemgov. 1712; and 
his History of Japan, vol. ii., Appendix, sect. 4, p. 34. 

If Mern. de la Societe" Medic. d'Emulation, viii. 575. 

** Journal Universel des Sciences M6d. xiii. 35. Paris, 1817. 

■ft Journal G£ner. de Mcdec. torn, xiii., and Journal TJnivers. des Sciences 
Medic, torn. xiii. 1819. 

§§ Mern. sur l'Electropuncture. Paris, 1825. 

Ul| Archives Generates de Med. torn. vii. Paris, 1825. 



46 ACUPUNCTURA. 

Elliotson,* and others in England ; by Friedrich,t Bernstein,:}: 
L. W. Sachs, Heyfelder, Michaelis,§ Grafe, || and others, in Ger- 
many ; by Carraro,1T Bergamaschi,** Bellini, andothers,in Italy; 
and by Ewing,tt E. J. Coxe,JJ Bache,§§ and others, in this 
country. 

M. Jules Cloquet had much to do in reviving its employment 
in his own country and elsewhere, by his treatise on the subject 
published at Paris, in 1S26, where it was for a long period a 
fashionable article in the hospitals ; so much so, it is affirmed, 
that attempts were even made to heal a fractured bone by it 
without the application of any appropriate apparatus ! and at one 
time, it is said, the patients in one of the hospitals actually re- 
volted against the piqueurs m6decins!\\\\ 



MODE OF ADMINISTRATION. 

In the operation of acupuncture, needles are employed, which 
are very fine, well polished and sharp pointed. They are usually 
from two to four inches long, the length being adapted to the 
depth it may be desired to make them penetrate. If steel needles 
are selected, they are heated to redness, and allowed to cool 
slowly, in order that they may be less brittle. At the blunt ex- 
tremity of the needle, a head of lead, or sealing wax is attached 
to prevent it from being forced entirely into the body. This is 
the simplest method of acupuncturation, and it is as effectual as 
any other. By various acupuncturists, needle-holders or handles 
of ivory have been devised, to some of which the needle is per- 
manently attached. Perhaps the jjorte-aiguille, or 'needle-holder' 
recommended by Prof. F. Bache,Hir is as good as any that has 
been invented. The needle, with its porte-aiguille, consists of a 
handle with a steel socket to receive the end of the needle, which 
may be fixed securely, after having been inserted, by the pressure 



* Med. Chir. Trans, xiii. 467. Lon. 1827; and art. Acupuncture, in 
Cyclop. Pract. Med. Lond. 1832. 

| Translation of Churchill's work in German, p. 40. 

\ Hufeland's Journal, lxvii. Berlin, 1828. 

§ Grafe und Wallher's Journal, B. v. St. 3. S. 552. 

|| E. Grafe, in art. Acupunctur. in Encyc. Worterb. der medicinisch. Wis- 
senschaft. B. i. S. 312. Berlin, 1828. 

If Annali Universali d'Omodei, 1825. 

** Ibid. 1826. 

ft North Amer. Med. and Surg. Journal, ii. 77. Philad. 1826. 

XX Ibid. ii. 276. Philad. 1826. 

\\ Ibid. i. 311. Philad. 1826; and art. Acupuncture, in Cyclop, of Pract. 
Med. i. 200. Philad. 1833. 

IHI Riecke, Op. cit. S. 13. 

fl Cyclop, p. 202. 



ACUPUNCTURA. 47 

of a small lateral screw. By this construction, the operator can 
at pleasure fix in the handle a needle of the length he may de- 
sire, and after inserting it he is enabled to detach the handle by 
relaxing the screw. After all, however, needles prepared in the 
simple manner mentioned above are adequate to every useful 
purpose. 

Besides common steel needles, those of gold, silver, and pla- 
tinum have been used, but it does not appear that one metal is 
preferable to another. 

To introduce the needle, the skin is stretched, and the needle 
inserted by a movement of rotation performed in opposite direc- 
tions, aided by gentle pressure. As a rule, the seat of pain will 
indicate the place where the needle should be introduced ; but 
where the feelings of the patient do not point out the spot, it must 
be suggested by our knowledge of anatomy and physiology. 
From the experiments of Beclard, Bretonneau, Segalas, Dantu, 
Velpeau, and others, it would appear, that perforation of arteries, 
nerves, and even of important viscera with very fine needles has 
not been followed by any injurious results; yet, at times, acci- 
dents have been produced thereby ; and, therefore, it may be 
laid down as a rule, that the greater nerves, and arteries of a 
certain size, should be avoided. Prudence would likewise sug- 
gest, that important viscera, as the heart, stomach, intestines, &c, 
should not be penetrated. 

The number of needles to be used varies according to the ex- 
tent of the affected parts. In the opinion of many experienced 
physicians, we ought not to be afraid of the number, but rather 
insert too many than too few, and not at too great a distance 
from each other. 

The length of time, during which the needles should be suf- 
fered to remain in the part, differs ; no fixed rule can be laid 
down. Some suffer them to remain for an hour and a half, or 
two hours ; at times, a period of five minutes is sufficient. In 
other cases, they have been kept in for two or three days. It 
appears to be by no means settled what medicinal influence is 
exerted by their longer or shorter continuance in the parts. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Allusion has already been made to the impunity with which, 
in the generality of cases, acupuncturation may be practised 
even on important organs. 

As respects the nerves, Cloquet has seldom or never seen the 
puncture of them give rise to so much pain as to render it neces- 
sary to withdraw the needles ; the pain was generally trifling and 
speedily passed away. He inserted needles into the brain and 



48 ACUPTTNCTTTRA. 

spinal marrow, and into the crural nerve of a cat, without any 
evidence of severe suffering or of change of function. Similar 
experiments were made by E. Griife with the same results.* Nor 
was inconvenience found by Delaunay, Beclard and Cloquet 
to be sustained on puncturing the arteries and veins. A few 
drops of blood perhaps issued, but the flow was readily stopped 
by pressure with the finger. The slight ecchymosis, which, at 
times, supervened, disappeared rapidly of itself. In Grafe's ex- 
periments, he never found much bleeding ensue, although he 
properly esteemed it advisable to keep clear of the nerves and 
blood-vessels, in order to avoid any unnecessary pain or mis- 
chief. 

As regards the fasciae and periosteum, Grafe found, that the in- 
sertion of needles into them was always very painful, and he re- 
commends, therefore, that the operation should be performed 
with care on those parts. Should, however, the needles be in- 
troduced, and much pain be experienced, it rapidly ceases when 
they are withdrawn. 

Lastly — MM. Haime, Bretonneau, Velpeau, and Meyranx, 
instituted several experiments on dogs by passing needles into 
the brain, heart, lungs, stomach, &c, and little or no inconveni- 
ence, as remarked above, was experienced, provided the needles 
were extremely fine. Cloquet passed his needles so deeply 
into the chest of an animal as to leave no doubt, that they had 
penetrated the lungs, and he subsequently pierced the liver, sto- 
mach, and testicles without the supervention of any unpleasant 
results. 

The pain occasioned by acupuncturation is generally easily 
tolerated ; but at times it is so violent, that the patients cry out ; 
the violence however, usually passes away either when the needle 
is drawn out or forced in deeper. It would seem, that the opera- 
tion is, as a general rule, most successful when it occasions the 
least pain. Cloquet asserts, that a kind of electric shock is some- 
times experienced in the surrounding parts at the moment of the 
introduction of the needle ; in other cases, a tremulous motion is 
observable in the fibresof the muscles penetrated. Almost always, 
some time after the entrance of the needles, a more or less regular 
aureola or halo of a red colour, and without tumefaction, is per- 
ceptible around the needles, which soon disappears after they are 
withdrawn ; but when they are suffered to remain long in the 
part it may persist for hours. 

When the operation is productive of benefit, relief is speedily 
experienced. 

The extraction of the steel needles is ordinarily accompanied by 
more pain than their insertion, especially if they have penetrated 

* Art. Acupunctur. in Encyc. Worterb. u. s. w. S. 317. Berlin, 1828. 



ACUPUNCTURAL 49 

deeply, and been retained in the flesh for a long time. The diffi- 
culty is owing to their having become oxidized, and consequently 
rough on the surface. In withdrawing them, it is advisable to 
give them a movement of rotation, and at the same time to press 
upon the skin surrounding them with the thumb and index 
finger. 

In the hospitals of St. Louis, La Pitie, and Hotel Dieu, of Paris, 
acupuncturation was practised some thousands of times, and in 
every case, according to Guersent, without the occurrence of any 
thing unpleasant. Pelletan, however, affirms, that he saw it on 
four occasions followed by slight faintness at the hospital St. 
Louis, but none of the cases assumed the characters of full syn- 
cope. Gaultier de Claubry has frequently seen faintness, febrile 
movements, spasm, and insupportable pain produced by it, and 
Heyfelder saw it followed by convulsions and fainting. Beclard 
has related a case where the needle penetrated to the bone, and 
occasioned intense pain. The patient remained a long time 
faint, and afterwards violent delirium ensued, which gradually 
ceased in the course of the day, and was followed by great de- 
bility. Subsequently, an abscess formed in the part on which 
the operation was practised. 

As to the modus operandi of acupuncturation, we cannot con- 
ceive its effects to be any thing more than a new nervous im- 
pression, produced by the needle in the parts which it penetrates. 
The needles having been found oxidized, especially at the point, it 
has been supposed by some, that the oxidation is connected with 
the remedial agency, and it has been even affirmed, that in some 
diseases they oxidize more readily than in others.* It is a suffi- 
cient reply to this view, that beneficial results are obtained from 
the use of needles made of metals that do not become oxidized, 
and that the steel needles oxidize in the sound, as well as in the 
diseased body, and even in parts that have been removed from 
the body, and placed in warm water ; for in the cold dead body, 
it is affirmed, the phenomenon is not observed. Cloquet and Pelle- 
tan think, from their experiments, that the effects of acupunctura- 
tion are a consequence of the development of the nervous fluid — 
which they liken to the galvanic — around the needles ; a view 
Avhich is denied by Pouillet and Beclard, but adopted in a modi- 
fied form by Dr. Bache,fwho throws out the conjecture, " that in 
many cases of local pain this accumulation of the nervous (elec- 
trical) fluid depends upon the altered state of the various fasciee 
or condensed sheets of tissue, giving them the power, to a certain 
extent, of insulating the parts which they serve to embrace." The 
explanation is ingenious, but we do not think it necessary, if ade- 

* Grafe, loc. cit. S. 319. f Op. citat. 305. 

5 



.50 ACUPUNCTURA. 

quate, to explain the phenomena. We have.no doubt, that the 
effects are owing to a concentration of the nervous power towards 
the part transfixed by the needle, so that a derivation of the 
nervous influx is induced towards the seat of pain, or towards 
the nerves particularly concerned in the production of the pain ; 
but farther than this we know not. 

There is one phenomenon, by the way, which is dependent on 
the oxidation of the needle. When the free extremity of an in- 
serted needle is connected with the ground by means of a con- 
ducting substance, or is put in connexion with a soft part of the 
patient's body, it becomes the seat of a galvanic current, which 
is exhibited by the multiplier of Schweiger. That this pheno- 
menon is dependent upon the oxidation of the metal is proved 
by the circumstance, that it does not take place when an un- 
oxidizable metal is employed.* 

Acupuncturation has been used by Berliozf in gouty and 
rheumatic cases ; by Haime in rheumatic, spasmodic, and con- 
vulsive affections, and by Demours in amaurosis, and ophthal- 
mia, the needles being inserted in the temples ; Finch advised 
it in anasarca practised on the feet ; he also discharged, in this 
way, the fluid of ascites.% Pipelet§ employed it advantage- 
ously in a violent convulsive affection. The needles did not 
remove or markedly diminish the symptoms, but they postponed 
their recurrence. Michaelis|| cured a case of rheumatism by it, 
but he did not find it so serviceable in oedema of the feet, as the 
fluid would not flow readily through the minute apertures. 
Friederich proposed, that in cases of asphyxia, when every other 
remedy had been employed unsuccessfully, the cavities of the 
heart should be penetrated by a needle to excite its contraction, 
and this plan was subsequently advised by Carraro,1T who found, 
from his experiments on cats, that they could in this way be re- 
suscitated after drowning, when every manifestation of vitality 
had ceased. His experiments, however, when repeated by Dr. 
E. J. Coxe,** of Philadelphia, were not found to succeed. J. 
Cloquet obtained the happiest results from acupuncturation in 
neuralgia, rheumatism, muscular contractions, spasms, pleu- 
rodyne, cephalalgia, ophthalmia, toothach, epilepsy, gout, gas- 
trodynia, contusions, lumbago, periodical cmiaurosis, diplopia, 
paralysis, &c. A case of neuralgia, after amputation, has been 



*Riecke, S. 16. 
fOp. citat. Paris, 1816. 
X Lond. Med. Repos. Mar. 1823. 

§ Journal Complem. du Diet, des Sciences Medic, t. xvi. 1823. 
|| Grafe und Walther's Journal, B. v. St. 3. 

TT Annal. univ. di Medicin, 1825. See, also, Provincial Med. and Surg. 
Journ., May 15, 1841. 
** North. Araer. Med. and Surg. Journal, ii. 292* 



ACUrUNCTURA. 51 

reported as cured by it.* The patient was attacked by ago- 
nizing pains, not only in the stump, but also in the opposite 
thigh, accompanied by convulsions and fainting. In this state, 
two needles were planted in the course of the sciatic nerve. 
These produced no effect, but as soon as the third was introduced, 
the patient exclaimed, " the doctor has struck the toe of my 
foot." The needle was then pressed still deeper, so as to pass 
through the nerve, when the pain immediately ceased. After 
the needles had remained in half an hour, they were removed, 
and the patient enjoyed a sound sleep and awoke free from pain. 
About twenty days afterwards, the pain recurred; the needles 
were again applied, and relief as instantaneously followed. 

Several cases of neuralgia removed by it have been published 
by Prof. Riberi, of Turin.f 

It is in rheumatic affections that its success has been most 
marked. Dr. ElliotsonJ cured 30 out of 42 cases by it in St. 
Thomas's hospital. In sciatica its efficacy has been evident.§ 

By Velpeau it has been proposed to cure aneurism by acu- 
puncturation. In performing some experiments on animals he 
found, that arteries punctured by the needle became the seat of 
a coagulum, and were ultimately obliterated. In 1830, he read 
a paper before the Acadhnie des Sciences, of Paris, proposing 
the operation in the cases in question. || He found in his experi- 
ments, that whenever the needle remained three days in the 
flesh, the transfixed artery was completely obliterated. 

M. Bonnet, Chirurgien-en-chef to the Hotel Dieu at Lyons,1F 
has affirmed, that he treated eleven cases of varicose veins by in- 
troducing pins through their cavities, and allowing them to re- 
main there some time. Nine of these cases were cured. The 
same treatment was applied to herniary sacs. He passed three 
or four pins through the herniary envelopes close to the inguinal 
ring, and in order that they might exert a certain degree of com- 
pression, as well as of irritation, on the sac, he twisted the points 
and heads upwards so as to give them a circular direction. The 
inflammation and pain usually commenced on the third or fourth 
day after the operation, and the pins were removed a few days 
afterwards. M. Bonnet had treated four cases of inguinal hernia 
by acupuncturation. In two, the hernia was small, and three 
weeks sufficed for the cure : the third was more troublesome. 

* Bulletino delle Scienze Medich. Ottobre, 1838, and Brit, and For. Med. 
Review, Jan. 1840, p. 252. 

f Medico-Chirurg. Rev. April, 1841, p. 501. 

I Art. Acupuncture, Cyclop. Pract. Med.; Lond. 1832. 

§ Renton, in Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. for 1830, xxxiv. 100; and Dr. 
Graves, in Lond. Med. Gaz. July, 1831, and Lond. Med. and Surg. Journal, 
April, 1833. 

(| Lond. Med. Gaz., and Amer. Journal of Med. Scienc, Aug. 1831, p. 510. 

"IJ Bulletin General de Therapeuticjue, and Dunglison's American Medical 
Intelligencer, for Dec. 1, 1837, p. 317. 



OK ACTJPUNCTURA. 

Caution is of course requisite not to injure the spermatic cord. 

In a subsequent communication, M. Bonnet inculcates the ne- 
cessity of causing the obliteration of the veins in several places 
separated from each other by short spaces.* 

Of late, acupunctu ration has been revived! in the treatment of 
hydrocele by Mr. Lewis, Mr. King,J and others. It consists in 
carrying a common sewing needle — of the size used for sewing 
a button to a shirt — through the skin, the dartos and cremaster, 
into the bag containing the fluid, so that a drop of the fluid 
follows the instrument as it is withdrawn. It is executed in 
nearly the same manner as the ordinary method of tapping with 
a trocar, except that the needle, which should be oiled, cannot be 
plunged in so easily as that instrument. Mr. King suggests, that 
the needle should be fixed in a handle, by which means it can 
be made to enter with comparative facility. After the opera- 
tion, a compress, moistened with a discutient lotion, may be 
kept on the scrotum, and the patient may walk about or remain 
at rest, as may best suit him. The phenomena which present 
themselves in a few hours are as follows : — the swelling begins 
to be less circumscribed, and to lose its tenseness, and the cellu- 
lar tissue of the scrotum becomes gradually more and more 
infiltrated with the fluid, which before distended the tunica 
vaginalis, and which, in the space of from twenty-four to forty- 
eight hours, will, according to Mr. King, have entirely changed 
place. In five or six days, the infiltration disappears, and the 
patient is cured. 

Mr. Lewis first introduced the method as a palliative cure, but 
he has seen cases where a radical cure was effected by it.§ He 
considers the principle of puncturing with a fine pointed needle 
not only applicable to promote the absorption of the fluid in 
hydrocele, but in every case of encysted dropsy. || 

Reference has already been made to the use of acupuncturation 
in anasarca. The author has used it advantageously to drain 
off the fluid from the cellular membrane : in such cases larger 
needles are needed ; some prefer them to be of the size of an 
ordinary glover's needle, and of a triangular shape ; a puncture 
of this kind being less likely to close.1T 

* Archives Generates de Medecine, Mai, 1839. See, also, Mr. Dodd, in 
Medical Gazette, Dec. 20, 1839. 

f Mr. Travers, in Lond. Med. Gazette, Feb. 1 837, p. 737. Mr. Lewis, Ibid. 
Feb. 1837, p. 788. Mr. Robert Keate, Ibid. p. 789. 

% British Annals of Medicine, No. 1, p. 13. 

§ Dr. Davidson, in Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. for Jan. 1838. 

|| Lancet, May 7, 183G, and Jan. 14, 1837. See a case of Ovarian Dropsy, 
in which it was employed by Dr. Robert D. Thomson, in Lancet, May 25, 
1839, p. 344; and one of Ascites by Mr. Campbell, Lond. Med. Gaz., Nor. 
1838. 

H" Dr. Graves, Lond. Med. Gazette, Oct. 1838. See, also, Mr. King, Ibid. 
Oct. 7, 1837, and Nov. 25, 1837. 



2ETHER HYDROCYANICUS. 53 

In the mass of cases, it need scarcely be said, this course can 
act merely in a palliative manner, — the cause of the dropsical 
accumulation persisting. Still, as Dr. Graves has remarked, 
under favourable circumstances, and in a good constitution, the 
simple operation of evacuating the fluid, by punctures made 
through the skin, has been, of itself, sufficient to effect a cure. 

In a lady, under his care, general anasarca came on after fever, 
and resisted every form of treatment he could devise. When 
he had made many fruitless attempts to produce absorption by 
means of internal remedies, another practitioner was called in, 
who practised acupuncturation of the lower extremities, and 
succeeded completely. 

Lastly, Mr. Vowell* has published a case in which acupunc- 
turation was successfully employed for the removal of a ganglion. 
A young lady under his care had been affected with a ganglion 
of a considerable size on the extensor tendons of the foot, which 
produced not only disfiguration, but some uneasiness. Mr. 
Vowell applied blisters, and afterwards iodine ointment and 
pressure, for above a month, without benefit. He then inserted 
the tambour porte-aiguille of his patient. Pressure was applied, 
and within a week the tumour had completely disappeared. 

When acupuncturation is conjoined with electricity or galva- 
nism, it constitutes eZectro-puncture,&ndgalvano-puncture. (q. v.) 



VII. AETHER HYDROCYAN'ICUS. 

Synonymes. iEther Prussicus, Hydrocyanic, or Prussio Ether. 
German. Cyanather. 

This preparation was discovered some years ago by Pelouze,t 
and, according to Magendie, % it resembles in its effects hydro- 
cyanic acid, without being so violent a poison, and, consequently, 
he esteems it worthy of regard as an addition to the materia 
medica. 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

Equal parts of sulpho-vinate of baryta and cyanuret of potas- 
sium are mixed intimately together, put into a glass retort, to 

* Lancet, Aug. 25, 1838, p. 770. 

f Journal de Pharmaoie, xx. 399. Paris, 1833. 

X Formulaire — d emigre Edition. 

5* 



54 JETHER HYDROCYANICUS. 

which a tubulated receiver is adapted, and exposed to a moderate 
temperature. By distillation, a colourless, or slightly yellowish 
fluid is obtained, which separates into two distinct strata. The 
lighter consists chiefly of hydrocyanic ether, which is not pure 
however, but mixed with water, alcohol, sulphuric ether, and 
hydrocyanic acid. In order to purify it, it must be strongly shaken, 
and, with four or five times its bulk of water, must be exposed 
for some time to a temperature of 60° or 70° centigrade ; it must 
be again agitated with a little water, decanted, suffered to remain 
in contact with chlorinated lime for twenty-four hours, and then 
distilled. The ether thus obtained is pure. It is a colourless 
fluid, of a penetrating, disagreeable garlicky odour. Specific 
gravity 0.7S. It boils at 82° centigrade ; is very slightly soluble 
in water, but soluble in every proportion in alcohol and sulphuric 
ether. In its pure state, it does not disturb a solution of nitrate 
of silver. It inflames very readily, and burns with a blue light. 
Potassa decomposes it with difficulty, and only when highly con- 
centrated. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Six drops of this ether placed in the throat of a dog, occasioned, 
in a short time, deep respiratory efforts : the dog fell on its side, 
and convulsions succeeded, with considerable motion ofthe paws. 
This condition continued for four minutes, after which the effects 
gradually disappeared, and in the course of half an hour passed 
away. Six drops injected into the jugular vein rapidly caused 
death, with symptoms similar to those induced by hydrocyanic 
acid. According to Magendie, these experiments were frequently 
repeated by him with different modifications, after which he ven- 
tured upon its administration in disease. He added six drops of 
the ether to a mucilaginous linctus, and prescribed it to a patient 
labouring under hooping-cough, who, in the course of a few days, 
derived signal benefit from it, and without complaining of its pene- 
trating, disagreeable odour. The same good effects happened to 
several patients to whom he gave it in the Hotel Dieu. But 
although the results were favourable in cases in which the hydro- 
cyanic acid was indicated, he found it often necessary to discon- 
tinue its use, on account of the invincible nausea which its smell 
induced. Magendie advises it in those diseases in which mix- 
tures of hydrocyanic acid have been found of service. 



ALUMINA SALES. 55 



VIII. ALU'MINiE SALES. 

Synonyme. Salts of Alumina. 

In making experiments on the agency of various substances 
as antiseptics, M. Gannal* found, that the aluminous salts are 
alone possessed of the property of preserving animal mat- 
ters, — "their bases combining with geline to form a special 
compound, the acid being set free." He found the alumi- 
nous deliquescent salts to be, of all saline substances, those 
that afford the most satisfactory results. The acetate of alu- 
mina and chloride of aluminum succeeded perfectly. A mix- 
ture of equal parts of chloride of aluminum at 20° Beaume (s. g. 
1.161), and of the acetate of alumina at 10° (s. g. 1.075), proved 
as good an injection as we possess for the preservation of dead 
bodies. 

The preservation of animal substances appears to depend upon 
the combination of geline with alumina ; but the acid sulphate 
does not possess enough of the preservative element ; and hence 
M. Gannal was driven to the employment of the salts of alu- 
mina, that are richer in alumina, and more soluble in water. 
Of all these, the sulphate of alumina was found to merit the 
preference, owing to its being of simple preparation and mode- 
rate price.t It may be made by the direct combination of alu- 
mina and sulphuric acid ; and contains 30 per cent, of the 
former to 70 per cent, of the latter. A kilogramme — about 
two pounds, eight ounces, and a dram and a half troy — dis- 
solved in two quarts of water, and costing twenty cents, M. 
Gannal found to be sufficient, in winter, to preserve a body 
fresh by injection for three months. To preserve it for a month 
or six weeks, it was not even necessary to inject the blood-ves- 
sels, — an enema of one quart, and the same quantity injected 
into the oesophagus being sufficient for the purpose. In hot 
weather, the solution must be stronger, or in greater quantity, 
and it should be injected into the carotids. 

The acetate of alumina, of which M. Gannal made use, was 
prepared by the addition of acetate of lead to sulphate of alu- 
mina and potassa. The acetate of alumina, thus prepared, at 
18° of Beaume's areometer, and in the quantity of five or six 
quarts, was sufficient to preserve a body for five or six months. 
This salt of alumina is, however, too costly ; and, therefore, can- 



* History of Embalming, &o., by J. N. Gannal, Paris, 1838, translated by 
R. Harlan, M.D., p. 203. Philad. 1840. 
t Ibid. p. 233. 



56 ALUMINJE SALES. 

not be employed in amphitheatres, where large quantities are 
required. 

In the report on M. Gannal's memoir presented to the Insti- 
tute of France, the commission adduce, in favour of his plan, the 
experience of MM. Serres, Dubreuil, Bourgery, Azous, Velpeau, 
and Amussat. 

" In the month of June, 1836," says M. Serres, " in the am- 
phitheatre of the hospital, the body of a man, 22 years of age, 
was injected. Left to the open air, in a room exposed to the 
south, and upon a wooden table, it was preserved until the 
month of September, and was ultimately mummified. In the 
month of July, eight bodies were injected for dissection, and 
kept fifteen days. During the months of August and Septem- 
ber, sixty subjects were injected. They were kept for twenty 
days." From these experiments, M. Serres concludes, that the 
liquid furnished by M. Gannal, permits the dissection of bodies 
during summer, which had not been practicable in the anatomi- 
cal schools of the hospitals of Paris ; and that it gave to the in- 
struction in operative medicine a development, which it had not 
previously enjoyed ; for, during the months of August and Sep- 
tember,they were enabled to have thirty bodies at a time on the 
tables, as in the middle of winter, so as to enable them to repeat 
before the students all the operations required in a regular course 
of operative surgery. 

For his discovery the Institute of France awarded M. Gannal 
the grand Monthyon prize of 1600 dollars, established for the 
discovery of any means calculated to remedy the unwholesome- 
ness of any art or profession. 

A useful application of M. Gannal's process is said to have 
been made by the police of Paris, in preserving bodies for many 
weeks in the Morgue or dead-house, where suspicions of murder 
required an unusual retention of the body above ground.* 

The specimens of pathological anatomy, preserved in the 
liquid of the injection, were not exempt, according to Dr. Harlan, 
from the usual inconvenience attached to similar preparations in 
a solution of chloride of sodium and other salts, being equally 
liable to incrustations, so as to require a change or renewal of 
the solution. 

The salts of alumina have been used in this city with the view 
of temporarily preserving the dead ; and a case has been pub- 
lished recently, in which the acetate was employed ; but the cor- 
rosive chloride of mercury was used along with it, which was 
altogether unnecessary. In the afternoon of the day on which 
the individual died, the abdominal aorta was injected upwards 
and downwards with a saturated solution of corrosive chloride 

* Harlan, Appendix to Gannal, op. cit., p. 254. 



ANTHRAKOKALI. 57 

in alcohol ; and on the following day, a saturated solution of 
acetate of alumina was thrown in, " which," says Dr. Sharpless,* 
" had the immediate effect of giving the whole body a manifest 
rose colour, making it resemble life in a remarkable degree." 

The salts of alumina have been chiefly employed to prevent 
putrefaction in the dead body ; but they might, doubtless, be 
used with eminent advantage as external applications in cases 
that require the topical use of antiseptics. 



IX. ANTHRAKO'KALI.t 

This article was first proposed by Dr. Polya, of Pesth, in the 
year 1837. 

MODE OF PREPARING. 

Two forms are employed, the simple and the sulphuretted. 
The former is prepared by dissolving carbonate of potassa in 
10 or 12 parts of boiling water, and adding as much slaked lime 
as will separate the potassa. The solution thus obtained con- 
tains only caustic potassa. The filtered liquor is placed on the 
fire in an iron vessel, and suffered to evaporate until neither 
froth nor effervescence occurs, and the liquid presents a smooth 
surface like oil. To this is added the levigated coal in the pro- 
portion of 160 parts to 192 parts of potassa. The mixture is 
stirred and removed from the fire, and the stirring is continued 
until a black homogeneous powder results. This powder is 
kept in a dry place. 

To obtain the sulphuretted antiirakokali, 16 parts of sul- 
phur must be mixed accurately with the coal, and the mixture 
be dissolved in the potassa as directed above. 

EFFECTS ON TIIE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

M. Polya affirms, that Anthrakokali exerts its influence on the 
skin generally, and especially on chronic cutaneous affections. 
It has also been given beneficially in scrofula and chronic rheu- 
matism. 

* Medical Examiner, Au<r. 13, 1842, p. 513. 

f From *v()pa.%, • coal,' and kali, ' potassa.' See M M. Jacobovics, in Gazette 
Mcdicalede Paris, Nos. 9 & 12, and Itiecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel,u. s. w. 
2te Auflage, S. 37. Stuttgart, 1810; also, Mr. Duharael, American Journal of 
Pharmacy, Jan. 1843. 



53 AQUA AMYGDALARUM. 

The dose of the simple and sulphuretted preparations is 10 
centigrammes (gr. iss.) three times a day. 

Fuligokali (q. v.) is an analogous substance. 



X. AQUA AMYGDALA'RUM CONCENTRA'TA. 

Stnonymes. Water of Bitter Almonds. 
French. Eau d'Amandes Ameres. 
German. JBittermandelwasser. 

The water of bitter almonds has been received into many of 
the modern Pharmacopoeias ; — into those of Bavaria, Paris, 
Ferrara, Hanover, Hesse, and Prussia, for example. 

METHOD OF PREPARING. 

The Pharmacopceia of Prussia directs it to be prepared in the 
following manner : — Take two pounds of bitter almonds, bruise 
them well, and add — whilst triturating them — ten pounds of 
spring water, and four ounces of highly rectified spirit of wine. 
Let the mixture rest for twenty-four hours in a well closed ves- 
sel, and then distil two pounds. The product must be kept in 
a well stopped bottle. 

The inequality in the strength of the Aqua lauro-cerasi and 
of medicinal hydrocyanic acid suggested this preparation, which 
was extolled by Hufeland for its uniformity. Its effect is entirely 
like that of the Aqua lauro-cerasi, but its greater regularity in 
strength and action has not been confirmed. 

Giese found the quantity of hydrocyanic acid contained in the 
product of the above formula half less than that in the cherry 
laurel water ; aud Jorg, from his experiments upon himself and 
others, proved it to be much weaker and more uncertain. 

Neither this preparation, nor the distilled aqua lauro-cerasi, is 
much employed in this country, or in Great. Britain. 

It has been used by Dr. Hodgkin* as a means of allaying dis- 
tressing itching, as in prurigo senilis. In some cases, it produced 
immediately a beneficial effect ; in others, it caused no benefit, 
but produced smarting and irritation. Mr. May keeps a solution 
of the oil of bitter almonds in the proportion of one part to seven 
of alcohol. This he uses as a substitute for hydrocyanic acid 
for internal administration ; he gives about half a drop for a dose. 
Externally, he employs it of the strength of a drop of the solution 
to an ounce of water. 

* Pharmaceutical Transactions, Sept. 1841 ; and Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy, 
Jan. 1842, p. 352. 



AQUA PICIS LIQUIDS. 59 



XL AQUA PICIS LIQ'UID^E. 

Synonymes. Aqua Picis, Aqua Picea, Infusum Picis Liquids seu Picis 

Empyreumaticae Liquidaa, Potio Picea, Tar Water. 
French. Eau de Goudron. 
German. Theerwasser. 

This preparation, at one time so much extolled, and recom- 
mended on the authority of the celebrated Bishop Berkeley, but 
which had almost fallen into total disuse, has been recently 
revived, more especially since it has been found to contain crea- 
sote. It was first employed extensively in England about the 
middle of the last century, and was drunk not simply as a thera- 
peutical but as a prophylactic agent, so that, Riecke facetiously 
remarks, almost as much tar- water was consumed by the inhabi- 
tants of London, as beer and other drinks !* 

As commonly happens in such cases, practitioners passed from 
one extreme to the other, and as they gradually found that tar 
water was not capable of accomplishing all that had been 
ascribed to it, they ultimately neglected it altogether. Still, for- 
mulae for its preparation exist in many Pharmacopoeias — in those 
of Dublin, Bavaria, Brunswick, Paris, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, 
and Wirtemberg, for example. 

Water takes up from tar a small portion of acetic acid, crea- 
sote, and resinous matter ; and tar-water was formerly much 
praised as a remedy in pulmonary consumption, and as a diu- 
retic ; its virtues, however, appear to rest almost wholly on the 
contained creasote. 

Some years ago, Arnheimer, of Duisburg, recalled the attention 
of practitioners to it as a remedy in many chronic cutaneous affec- 
tions, especially of the herpetic kind; and he asserted, that he 
found no remedial agent more valuable when its use was perse- 
vered in for one or two months to the extent of a pint or two 
daily. Arnheimer directed patients to prepare it for themselves 
in the following manner. A pound of tar was put into a deep 
porcelain dish, and a quart of water was poured upon it ; for 
half an hour it was stirred with a spoon ; the mixture was then 
allowed to stand for twenty-four hours ; the tar remaining on 
the surface of the water was skimmed off, and the clear fluid put 
into well stopped bottles. 

He advises, that a large quantity should not be prepared at 
once, as the water in time becomes ropy and its golden yellow 
colour is changed to a darker hue. It is generally taken without 
any repugnance. 

* Die neuern Arzneimittel, S. 38. Stuttgart, 1837. 



60 AQUA PICIS LIQUIDS. 

The process in the Dublin Pharmacopoeia is the following : — 
Take of Tar, two pints ; Water, a gallon : mix, and stir with a 
wooden rod for fifteen minutes ; then, when the tar has subsided, 
filter the liquid, and keep it in well closed jars. 

Since the discovery of creasote, tar-water has received fresh 
consideration, and it is not improbable, that it may come again 
into more general use, as it appears, from recent experiments, 
that there are cases where it would seem to merit a preference 
over creasote. M. Petrequin has lately made some trials with 
both, in chronic catarrh, and in different stages of phthisis* 

The number of cases reported by him is twenty-three ; of these 
seven were of chronic catarrh, in which creasote was given ; 
generally the cough was mitigated by it, but in two no effect 
was produced on that symptom. The expectoration was usually 
diminished or facilitated ; in two cases, however, no advan- 
tage was derived from it, and in one case the sputa were bloody. 
In the majority, the dyspnoea ceased ; in others, it continued ; 
and in the same number of cases the pain in the breast was re- 
lieved by its use. 

As to its effects on the digestive organs, it several times excited 
thirst ; but the most marked result was the sensation of burning, 
which it caused in the majority of cases, in the digestive tube, or 
in the breast, In two cases, it exhibited no influence on an 
existing diarrhoea, whilst in two others, it appeared to diminish 
the number of the evacuations. In two it excited vomiting, and 
commonly produced nausea. On the whole, in the greater num- 
ber, it appeared to render good service, but in one it was of no 
avail, and in another it seemed to aggravate the affection. 

In four cases of incipient phthisis, treated with creasote, M. 
Petrequin obtained the following results. Although in one in- 
stance, the cough was aggravated ; in the majority, the opposite 
was the fact. The expectoration was facilitated but diminished 
in quantity ; the dyspnoea was more or less improved, and in two 
cases the pain in the chest was relieved. In this disease, also, 
creasote excited burning in the epigastrium or chest, and in one 
instance fugitive sensations of heat and creeping in the limbs. In 
one case, the benefit was striking; in two, the improvement was 
to a less extent, and in one the disease was augmented. 

Four other cases were of advanced phthisis. In most, the 
cough was more or less improved, — never increased ; the op- 
pression remained much the same, but in one case it became more 
severe. As regards the effects upon the digestive organs, they 
were much the same as in the first class of cases. The improve- 
ment in one case was insignificant ; in two others but slight, and 
in the fourth the affection was aggravated. 

* Gazette M^dicale de Paris, No. 45. Nov. 5, 1836. 



AQUA PICIS LIQUIDJE. 61 

M. Petrequin directs tar water to be prepared by digesting 
an ounce of tar in a quart (pi?ite) of water for eight days, and 
then filtering. It is taken mixed with milk, and to the extent of 
from eight to twelve ounces in the day. With this preparation, 
he treated three cases of chronic catarrh. The cough was 
always improved by it ; the expectoration diminished or facili- 
tated ; the dyspnoea alleviated or removed, and the pains in the 
chest were improved or dissipated. 

In two cases, it appeared to act beneficially on vomiting which 
accompanied the cough. The appetite was improved, and in one 
case, diarrhoea seemed to be diminished, whilst in two others, 
existing constipation yielded during its use. In all the cases, 
sleep was restored. On the urinary secretion it exerted no in- 
fluence, and it neither excited thirst nor nausea like creasote. 

In three cases of incipient phthisis, its action was more bene- 
ficial than that of creasote. The cough was always ameliorated, 
the expectoration facilitated or diminished, and the dyspnoea and 
thoracic pain relieved. In one case, it seemed to act favourably 
on accompanying emesis, and in another to quench thirst. It 
excited or improved the appetite, and aided digestion. 

In one case of advanced phthisis, the alleviation produced by 
the tar water was beyond all expectation, but in another the 
disease had proceeded so far that it was wholly unsuccessful. 

So far, then, as M. Petrequin's experiments go, they would 
seem to show that advantage may be derived, in the cases in 
question, from the administration of creasote and tar water ; and 
that the latter is perhaps possessed of properties which the other 
has not — to the same degree at least. The cases are, however, 
too few to enable us to deduce any thing entirely satisfactory. 

Fresh experiments will doubtless be instituted, which may ena- 
ble us to infer positively on matters that must as yet be consider- 
ed involved in doubt.* 

The author has administered it freely in phthisis, as well as in 
chronic bronchitis. In the latter affection, it has relieved cases, 
in which the accustomed excitant expectorants are found to be 
serviceable. The same has been the fact in the former disease ; 
but farther than this no advantage has accrued from its adminis- 
tration. 

In a late French periodical,! some cases are published from the 
records of the hospitals for 1829 and 1830, daring the attendance 
of the late Professor Dupuytren, in which injections of tar water 
were successfully administered in catarrhus vesicse, along with 
the use of pills of turpentine. The tar water was made by in- 

* Deslandes, Diet, de M6dec. et de Chjrurgie prat. xi. 233U. 
| La Lancette Frarifaise, Avril 8, 1837. 
6 



62 ARGENTI PRiEPARATA. 

fusing in the cold, for a night, a pound of tar in ten pounds of 
spring water, filtering and warming the solution before using it. 
Large quantities of this were injected through an elastic gum 
catheter, which was forthwith withdrawn and the patient directed 
to retain the injection as long as possible. The injection was 
repeated daily, and Venice turpentine was administered inter- 
nally in the form of pills. 

A syrup of tar may be made by dissolving sugar in tar 
water.* 



ARGEN'TI PILEPARA'TA. 

Synontmes. Preparations of silver. 
German. Silberpraparate. 

Of the preparations of silver, the nitrate is the only one that 
has been much used, and this chiefly as an external application. 
Recently, however, the attention of physicians has been directed 
to the internal use of many of those preparations, and especially 
by M. Serre,t professor of surgical clinics at Montpellier. This 
gentleman commenced his first trials in May, 1S35, in the civil 
and military hospital of St. Eloi. At this time, there was an un- 
usual number of syphilitic patients in the wards, of which the 
most severe and appropriate were selected for treatment by the 
preparations of silver — the chloride, cyanuret, and iodide. Trials 
were also made with divided metallic silver, oxide of silver, and 
chloride of ammonia and silver. At first, these preparations were 
administered iatraleiptically ; the chloride, the cyanuret, and the 
iodide in the quantity of one-twelfth of a grain ; the chloride of 
silver and ammonia in the quantity of one-fourteenth of a grain ; 
and the oxide of silver, and the divided silver, in the dose of one- 
eighth, and one-quarter of a grain, respectively. M. Serre soon 
found, that these doses were generally too small : he, therefore, 
raised that of the chloride and the iodide to one-tenth and one- 
eighth of a grain, without the slightest inconvenience resulting. 
The other preparations were also increased in the same propor- 
tion, with the exception of the chloride of silver and ammonia, 
which requires more precaution than any of the other prepara- 
tions. 

M. Serre did not restrict himself to the iatraleiptic administra- 

* Soubeiran, Journal de Pharmacie, Janvier, 1842, p. 70< 
t Bulletin General de Therapeutique, 183G. 



ARGENTI PR.EPARATA. 63 

tion of these substances, but employed them internally in the 
form of pill, and externally as local applications. The formulae 
preferred by him were the following : — 

Pulvis argenti chloridi. 

Powder of chloride of silver. 

R. Argent, chlorid. gr. j. 
Pulv. irid. florent. gr. ij. 

Reduce to a fine powder, and divide into eight or ten por- 
tions ; to be rubbed on the tongue. 

Pilulae argenti et ammonioe chloridi. 

Pills of chloride of silver and ammonia. 

R. Argent, et arnmon. chlorid. gr. j. 

Pulv. irid. florent. gr. ij. 
Conserves flor. tilise q. s. ut fiat massa in pilulas xiv. dividenda. 

For external use, 

Unguentum oxidi argenti. 
Ointment of oxide of silver. 

R. Argent, oxid. gr. xx. 

Adipis. gj. Misce, ut fiat unguentum. 

When the iodide or cyanuret is substituted for the oxide of 
silver, ten or twelve grains of one of these may be added to the 
ounce of lard. 

M. Serre describes several cases of syphilis in which the pre- 
parations of silver were administered according to the above 
forms. The first patient was a soldier, 26 years old, of athletic 
constitution, who, at the time of his admission into the hospital, 
had several large chancres on the prepuce, so close to each other 
as to seem to form one large circular ulceration, five or six lines 
in diameter. After a few days' rest, and the use of baths, M. 
Serre ordered the chloride of silver in friction on the tongue in 
the quantity of one-twelfth of a grain. The ulcers were treated 



64 ARGENTI PRSPARATA. 

with simple cerate (ceratam Galeni) spread on lint. After the 
second rubbing, the patient experienced violent colicky pains, 
which were not severe enough, however, to induce a discon- 
tinuance of the remedy. Scarcely had a grain of the chlo- 
ride been employed, when the secretion from the ulcerated 
parts became less ; the surface of the chancres lost the kind of 
grayish border which they possessed, and cicatrisation proceeded 
rapidly. The frictions were continued, and the condition of the 
patient went on improving. At the end of two months, he left 
the hospital. 

In the five subsequent cases, the same plan of treatment was 
pursued. The chloride was used exclusively according to the 
iatraleiptic method. The symptoms were various ; in addition 
to chancres, there was in one case a suppurating bubo ; in 
another, syphilitic vegetations at the margin of the anus ; and in 
a third, fissures in the same part. In the seventh case, in which 
there were chancres, gonorrhoea, and extensive rugous blotches 
on the nates, the chloride of silver was rubbed on the tongue, 
and applied topically in the form of ointment. The eighth patient, 
who suffered with large condylomata, as well as with ulcers in 
the neck, took the chloride in pills to the extent of nine grains in 
the course of the treatment ; frictions with the ointment of silver 
were also applied to the affected parts. 

M. Serre deduces from all his experiments the following 
amongst other conclusions. First. The preparations of silver 
have this great advantage over those of mercury, that they never 
occasion salivation, nor do they induce in the intestinal canal or in 
the respiratory organs, the disagreeable effects that are too often 
caused by mercury. Secondly. That should their therapeutical 
agency be confirmed by experience, and they be introduced into 
hospital practice, great advantage will be derived as respects 
the purity of the wards, and the cleanness of the bedclothes, 
&c. Thirdly. That patients can be treated by them in secret 
as well as when travelling, without fear of detection. Fourthly. 
That the preparations of gold are to be preferred in these respects ; 
but that gold has the disadvantage of exciting too much, and 
cannot, therefore, be exhibited to those of a nervous and excitable 
temperament, or who have weak and delicate chests. In such 
cases the preparations of silver merit the preference. Fifthly. 
The preparations of silver are much cheaper than those of gold, 
and are, therefore, more available in practice amongst the poor, 
and in large hospitals; and, moreover, they are more easily pre- 
pared, which is a consideration of some moment, as regards the 
■pharmaciens of small towns. Sixthly, and lastly. There are 
cases in which mercurial and gold preparations fail, and where 
the preparations of silver might be of advantage. 

The observation of others has not confirmed the assertions of 



ARGENTI CHLORIDUM. 65 

M. Serre. M. Ricord* employed the various preparations, made 
after the formulae given by M. Serre, in the same doses ; but not 
being able to observe any effect that could be fairly ascribed to 
the agents, he ventured upon considerably larger doses, as much, 
for example, as twelve grains a day of the iodide and cyanuret, 
but without any marked! results. 

In this country, the preparations of silver have been but little, 
if at all, used in syphilis, nor do they appear to merit special 
favour.t 



XII. ARGENTI CHLO'RIDUM. 

Synonymes. Argentum Muriaticum, A. Salitum, Chloruretum Argenti, 

Argentum Chloratum, Chloride, Chloruretor Muriate of Silver. 
French. Chlorure d'Argent. 
German. Salzsaures Silber, Chlorsilber. 

Chloride of silver is prepared by the decomposition of a solution 
of nitrate of silver., by an excess of a solution of chloride of so- 
dium. The resulting product, or chloride of silver, appears 
under the form of a flaky, clotted, very thick precipitate ; it must 
now be washed repeatedly with boiling water, and be exposed 
to the heat of a sand-bath, so that it may dry as speedily as pos- 
sible. 

Chloride of silver, prepared in this way, is of a white colour, 
devoid of taste, and not soluble in water, but soluble in ammonia. 
In the light it speedily changes, especially when much divided, or 
when moist ; and assumes a somewhat dark violet hue, as the 
chlorine is given oft'. 

Chloride of silver suffers no decomposition when united with 
vegetable matters. It must be dried and kept protected from the 
light.! 

Its uses have been referred to under the head of the prepara- 
tions of silver, (p. 62.) 

As the nitrate of silver must be converted into chloride of 
silver by meeting with the chlorohydric acid in the stomach, Dr. 
Perry, § at the time, resident physician of the Philadelphia Hos- 
pital, administered the chloride with advantage in epilepsy, 
chronic dysentery, chronic diarrhoea, and other affections in 
which nitrate of silver is given internally. Twelve grains given 
daily for three months produced no unpleasant symptoms ; and 

* J. J. L. Rattier, La Lancette Franchise, No. 122, Oct. 13, 1836. 
t Dr. W.P.Johnson, Medical Examiner, Nov. 23, 1839, p. 743. 
\ On the mode of forming the various preparations of silver, see Chamou, 
in Bulletin General de Thurapeutique, No. xvi. Aug. 30, 1836. 

§ Dunglison's American Medical Library and Intelligencer, Feb. 1841. 
6* 



66 ARGENTI PR-EFARATA. 

in no case did discoloration of the skin succeed. In epilepsy, 
three grains, given four or five times a day, produced effects 
similar to those of nitrate of silver, but more marked. In chronic 
dysentery, half a grain to three grains, given three times a day, 
produced immediate diminution in the number of the evacua- 
tions, and relieved the tormina ; inducing, at the same time, an 
improvement in the character of the stools and other symptoms. 

The author has very frequently prescribed the chloride ; and 
on the whole it has appeared to him to be equal to the nitrate 
of silver in the cases mentioned by Dr. Perry. 

It has been affirmed recently, that a combination with iodine 
will prevent the discoloration of the skin ; and that the use of 
iodine will remove it where it has already occurred ; but farther 
experience is necessary to establish this. See Argenti Iodidum 
(p. 68). 



XIII. ARGENTI ET AMMO'NIiE CHLO'RIDUM. 

Kynonymes. Argentum Muriaticum Ammoniatum, Chlorureturn Argenti et 

Ammonite, Chloride or Chloruret of Silver and Ammonia. 
French. Chlorure d'Argent el d'Amtnoniaque. 
German. Silbersalmiak, Salzsaures Silberammonium. 

This preparation is obtained, when we saturate, by the aid of 
heat, liquid ammonia with freshly precipitated and carefully 
washed chloride of silver. The operation must beaccomplished 
at such a degree of heat, that the fluid shall boil once ; for if the 
boiling be continued a few moments and in the open air, no crys- 
tals will be deposited on cooling. If the fluid, whilst in full ebulli- 
tion'and preserved from the light, be filtered, very regular crystals 
will be deposited on cooling, which may be dried between blotting 
paper, and should be kept in a well stopped bottle. 

Chloride of silver and ammonia has a bluish-white colour, the 
peculiar smell of ammonia, and a burning, almost caustic, taste. 
In the air, it gradually exhales ammonia, and acquires all the pro- 
perties of simple chloride of silver, without, however, losing the 
form of the original composition. 

If the crystals be kept in the ammonia in which they were 
formed, they do not experience the slightest change in their colour 
from the influence of light. When treated with distilled water, 
the chloride is decomposed. A portion saturated with ammonia 
is again dissolved ; yet a much greater portion remains undis- 
solved ; this contains only a small quantity of ammonia. It ex- 
periences the same decomposition through the influence of heat, 
as when it is exposed to the open air, except that the decompo- 
sition takes place more rapidly. It displays nothing extraordi- 
nary, when rubbed with organic matters. 



ARGENTI CYANURETUM. 67 

This remedy, as before remarked, has also been used with ad- 
vantage by Serre in cases of syphilis. 

Another preparation, the Liquor argenti muriatico-ammo- 
niati, has been long recommended by Kopp, in cases of chronic 
nervous affections. Tt is prepared according to the following 
formula : — 

R. Argent, nitrat. fus. gr. x. 
Aquae destillat. f.gij. 

Soluto filtrato instilla liquoris natri muriatici, (Soda? Muriatis,) q. s. ad 
praecipitandum. Praecipitatum sedulo ablutum solve in liquoris amnion, caust. 
giss : adde acidi muriatici ^Vi). vel q. s. ut prsecipitatio ev'uetur et argentum 
muriaticum in statu solutionis permaneat. Pondus fluidi filtrati aequale sit 
unciis duabus cum dimidia.* 

This preparation is transparent ; but, under the effect of light, 
it suffers black flakes to be deposited. It is therefore necessary 
to preserve it it in small bottles, painted black, in a dark place. 
In using it, acid substances should be avoided. 

Kopp found this liquor argenti muriatico-ammoniati of great 
efficacy in St. Vitus's dance. It may be given to children of 
about ten years of age, morning, noon, and night, in doses of 
three drops, gradually raised to six, in a spoonful of distilled 
water. (See page 63.) 



XIV. ARGEN'TI CYANURETUM. 

Stnonymes. Argenti Cyanidum, Argentum Cyanogenatum, Cyanuretum 

Argenti, Cyanide or Cyanuret of Silver. 
French. Cyanure d'Argent. 
German. Blaustoffsilber, Cyansilber. 

Cyanuret of silver is obtained by permitting a weak solution 
of hydrocyanic acid to act on a solution of nitrate of silverA 
The very light white precipitate, formed thereby, must be re- 
peatedly washed with distilled ivater, and be reduced to dryness 
in a moderately heated oven. In the preparation, of the cya- 

* " Take of fused nitrate of silver, ten grains; distilled water, two ounces: 
Into the filtered solution drop enough of a solution of chloride of sodium to 
precipitate. Dissolve the carefully washed precipitate in an ounce and a half 
of caustic liquid ammonia ; add three drams of muriatic acid, or enough to 
avoid precipitation, and the muriate of silver may remain in a state of solution. 
The weight of the filtered fluid should be equal to two ounces and a half." 

t Pharm. of the United States, p. 77, Philad. 1842. 



6S ARGENTI PR.SEPARATA. 

nuret of silver, as of the iodide, it is essential to pour on only so 
much of the fluid in the formation of the precipitate as may be 
required for the complete decomposition of the nitrate of silver. 
If too much hydrocyanic acid be used, a part of the precipitate 
will be separated in the form of hydrocyanate of silver. If, 
instead of hydrocyanic acid, hydrocyanate of potassa be used, 
the latter, if added in too great proportion, will unite with the 
cyanuret of silver, and form a soluble double salt. 

Cyanuret of silver is of a white colour, devoid of taste, not 
soluble in water, but soluble in ammonia. In the air, the surface 
very soon becomes of a dark violet hue, similar to that of the 
chloride of silver under like circumstances. It is dry, and should 
be kept preserved from the light. It experiences no decom- 
position when mixed with neutral vegetable matters. 

Its use in disease has been referred to under the preparations 
of silver. 



XV. ARGENTI IODI'DUM. 

Stnonymes. Argentum Iodatuin, Ioduretum Aro-enti ; Iodide or Ioduret of 

Silver. 
French. Iodure d'Argent. 
German. Iodsilber. 

Iodide of silver is obtained by mixing a solution of nitrate of 
silver with one of iodide of potassium. The yellowish flakes, 
produced by the admixture of the two fluids, are then washed 
several times with distilled water, and dried in an oven. 

In this preparation, also, it is important, that only so much of 
the reagent should be added as is necessary for the complete de- 
composition of the salt of silver. A surplus of the iodide of potas- 
sium would form with the already precipitated iodide of silver a 
soluble and crystallisable double salt of iodine, whereby the 
quantity of the product, which it might be desirable to obtain, 
would be diminished. 

Iodide of silver is of a very pale yellow colour; but becomes, 
under the action of light and air, of a deeper yellow. It has no 
taste, and is neither soluble in water nor in ammonia. The latter 
property serves to distinguish it from the chloride and the cya- 
nuret of the same metal. Like the chloride, the iodide must be 
kept in a dry dark place. Neutral vegetable substances appear 
to exert no action upon it. 

Its properties have been enumerated under the head of the pre- 
parations of silver. It has been already remarked (p. 65) that a 
combination with iodine is said to prevent the discoloration apt 
to be induced by nitrate of silver. 



ARGENTI OXIDUM. 69 

The following form for this purpose is given by Dr. Patter- 
son :*— 



Pilule argenti iodidi composite. 
Compound pills of iodide of silver. 

R. Argenti iodid. 

Potassas nitrat. aa gr. x. 
Tere simul ut fiat pulvis subtil, dein adde 

Glycyrrhiz. pulv. Jss. 

Sacchar. £)j. 

Mucilag. acaciae q. s. ut fiant pil. xl. 

Dose. — One, three times a day. 

XVI. ARGENTI OX'IDUM. 

Synonymes. Argentum Oxydatum, Oxydum Argenti. 

French. Oxide d' Argent. 

German. Silberoxyd, Oxydirtes Silber. 

Oxide of silver is obtained by the reaction of potassa on a 
solution of nitrate of silver. The alkaline fluid must be added 
in excess, and the oxide, which is the product of the decomposi- 
tion, must be washed several times in a considerable quantity of 
water, and be dried by moderate heat, and preserved from the 
light. 

The following form has been given recently :f — 

R. Argent, nitrat. crystallizat. §i. 
Potassae, §vij. 
Aquae purse, 3xviij. 

Dissolve the nitrate of silver in two or three ounces of the 
water, and the potassa in the remainder : mix the two solutions ; 
stir with a glass rod, and throw the whole upon a filter. Lastly, 
wash the precipitate from adhering alkali, and dry it carefully. 

In the state of hydrate, the oxide is black ; when anhydrous, it 
appears as an olive greenish brown powder ; it is tasteless, and 
capable of absorbing carbonic acid from the air. Under the long 
continued influence of light, it is blackened ; and at a heat below 

* Med. Chir. Rev., Oct. 1842. 

f A. Duhamel, Amer. Jour, of Pharmacy, July, 1842, p. 100. 



70 ARGENTI PRiEPARATA. 

obscure red, it is reduced to the metallic condition. To be kept 
for a long time in the pure state, it must be protected from 
the light, in a well stopped bottle. 

This preparation, which was also recommended by M. Serre, 
has been used by Van Mons in syphilis* (See p. 62.) 

Mr. Lanef — under the idea, that nitrate of silver is always 
decomposed in the stomach by chlorohydric acid, whence results 
chloride of silver, which enters into the circulation, is conveyed 
to the cutaneous surface, and is converted into an oxide by the 
action of light, and by its strong affinity for albumen — has ad- 
ministered the oxide of silver with advantage in diseases of the 
uterine system, in which there is undue secretion and great irri- 
tation. He gave the oxide for two months, at intervals, without 
the slightest tendency to discoloration ; and Dr. Golding Bird 
had prescribed it for four months without any bad effects. Mr. 
Lane found it very beneficial in half-grain doses, twice a day, 
in cardialgia and pyrosis; gastrodynia ; irritability of the 
stomach, accompanied by gnawing and constant pain, and nau- 
sea, &c. It seemed, likewise, to be beneficial in uterine hemor- 
rhage, both in the impregnated and unimpregnated state. 



XVII. ARGEN'TUM DIVI'SUM. 

Synonymes. Metallic Silver, in a state of division. 
German. Zertheiltes Silber. 

Pure oxide of silver is placed in a porcelain crucible, and the 
fire is increased to dull redness. The product is then allowed 
to cool, rubbed in an agate mortar, and sifted through a close 
sieve or bolting cloth. 

In this condition, divided silver forms a very fine powder, of 
a dullish white colour : the air has no influence upon it, unless 
when impregnated with sulphureous vapours. 

Besides the use of this preparation in syphilis, already referred 
to, it may be remarked, that the filings of silver, Argentum lima- 
tum, which agree with it in chemical relations, had been ad- 
ministered ten years before in cases of intermittent fever, by Dr. 
Meyer, of Buckeburg.J 

Notwithstanding the testimony adduced in its favour, it is pro- 
bably wholly inert, or exerts but a mechanical agency. 

* Riecke, Op. cit. S. 440. 

j- London Lancet, July 10, 1841. 

i Riecke, Op. cit. S. 436. 



ARGILLA PURA. 71 



XVIII. ARGIL'LA PURA. 

Synonymes. Alumina pura, Terra aluminosa pura, Terra aluminis, Terra 

bolaris seu argillacea pura; pure Argil or Alumina. 
French. Alumine factice. 
German. Reine Thonerde ; reine Alaunerde. 

This substance was known in olden times by the names Arme- 
nian Bole, Terra sigillata, &c, in which forms it was always, 
however, mixed with lime and iron. It was highly extolled as 
an absorbent, demulcent, diaphoretic and astringent ; was em- 
ployed in hemorrhage, diarrhoea and dysentery, phthisis, 
poisoned wounds, &c, and was also applied externally in cases 
of erysipelas. It had almost fallen into complete oblivion, when 
its use was resumed by some of the German practitioners. With 
us, it is scarcely ever, if ever, prescribed. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

The purest argil is prepared by drying sulphate of alumina 
and ammonia, and exposing it for 20 or 25 minutes to a red 
heat, in a crucible : the sulphuric acid and ammonia are driven 
off, and the argil remains behind in the form of a white powder. 
Formerly, it was prepared by dissolving alum in water, and 
precipitating the argil from the solution by means of carbonate 
of potassa or of soda, or by potassa. It is affirmed, however, 
that, generally, more or less sulphuric acid remained with the 
earth, so that it required to be purified by repeated washing, until 
there was no longer any acid reaction. If a still higher degree 
of purity be needed, the precipitate is dissolved in muriatic acid, 
and the argil precipitated by ammonia. 

The powder, prepared by these methods, is of a white colour 
and devoid of smell or taste ; but it communicates to the tongue 
a feeling of astringency. When breathed upon, it yields a pecu- 
liar earthy smell. It is insoluble in water, but attracts moisture 
greedily from the air, and forms with it a gelatiniform mass. 

EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

Pure argil was highly recommended by Percival in indiges- 
tion attended with predominance of acidity ; and it was in such 
cases extolled by the Dresden physicians, Ficinus and Seiler.* 

* Zeitschrift fur Natur. und Heilkunde der Dresdner Profesaoren, B. 1. H. 
1, S. 82. 



72 ARGILLA PURA. 

According to the former, it merits a preference over all other 
absorbents, inasmuch as it forms astringent salts with acids. He 
found it especially useful in diarrhoea and dysentery, particularly 
in children. Seiler recommended it in the vomiting of infants, 
which is usually accompanied by acidity, and in the diarrhoea 
of older children. 

Neumann* found it successful in checking diarrhoea, which 
neither starch glyster, nor opium, nor any other therapeutical 
agent had succeeded in diminishing. He made a mixture of 
two drams of argil, and four ounces of a decoction of logwood, 
and administered it to children by the teaspoonful. Weese,f 
also employed it successfully in several cases of infantile diar- 
rhoea where there was evidently a predominance of acid. The 
latest encomiast of the argilla depurata is Diirr, who, for several 
years, has administered it in the diarrhoea and cholera of infants, 
and has found it highly efficacious. 

The chemical reasons, urged by Ficinus and others, merit 
attention. The article is worthy of employment in affections of 
the intestinal tube, in which astringents are indicated. The 
muriatic, and the acetic or lactic acid are always in the stomach 
when any alimentary or other matter is present there ; these 
acids cannot fail, consequently, to unite with the argil, and the 
resulting compound must possess astringent properties. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The dose, in the 24 hours, for a very young child, is from jss. 
to 5j- ; for older children, from 3j. to 31J. Smaller doses are of 
little or no avail. The vehicle is commonly an emulsion. 

The following forms are given by Riecke :$ — 

Mistura argillse. 

Mixture of argil. 

R. Emuls. sem. papav. (ex £ss. parat.) ^iiiss. 
Argillee purae, ^ij. 
Syrup, althaea?, f.gss. M. 

Dose. — A teaspoonful to a child two years old affected with 
diarrhcEa. 

* Bemerkungen iiber die gebrauchlichsten Arzneimittel, von Dr. Karl 
Georg Neumann, S. 55, Berlin, 1840. 
f Rust's Magazin, B. xii. H. 2, S. 247. 
% Die neuern Arzneimittel. S. 41. Stuttgart, 1837. 



ARNICA. 73 

R. Argill. pur. 5ss. 
Acac. 5j. 
Sacch. 3ij- 
Aq. fenicdil. f-^iij. M. 

Dose. — The same as the last to a child one year old. 

J£. Emuls. oleos. cum vitell. ovor. parat. §j. 
Syrup, alth. f.^j. 
Argill. depurat. Jss. 
Aq. cinnam. simpl. f.Jj. 
Extract, conii, gr. ij. M. 

Dose. — The same as the two last to a child three months old, 
affected with cholera infantum. 

Durr. 



XIX. ARNICA. 

SrNONYMES. Arnica Montana, A. Plauensis, Doronicum Germanicum, 
Panacea Lapsorum, Ptarmica Montana, Caltha Alpina, Calendula Alpina, 
Narda Celtica altera, Doronicum plantaginis folio, Leopard's Bane. 

French. Arnique, Tabac ou Betoine des Savoyards, Tabac de Montague, 
Doronic d'Allemagne,Tabac des Vosges. 

German. Wohlverlei, Fallkraut. 

This plant, which belongs, in the sexual system, to Syn- 
genesia polygamia superflua, and to the natural order Com- 
posite Synantherese, is in the secondary list of the Pharmacopoeia 
of the United States, but it is not much used in this country ; 
nor does there appear to be any clear appreciation of the cases 
for which it is adapted.* Such, too, appears to be the sen- 
timent of the French practitioners. " It may be concluded," 
says MM. Merat and De Lens,t " that we have as yet insuffi- 
cient data to pronounce positively on the affections in which 
arnica can be unequivocally efficacious ; we must, consequently, 
always bear in mind its heating and active qualities when we 
prescribe it." 

In Germany, the flowers and root are much employed in para- 
lysis, as an excitant to the nervous system ; and it is chiefly to 
introduce the volatile oil — the oleum xthereiun Jlorum arnicas, 

* Dr. Wood, in Dispensatory of the United States, by Drs. Wood and 
Bache, Art. Arnica. 
f Dictionnaire Universel de Maticre Mcdicale, &c i. 423. Paris, 1829. 
7 



74 ARSENIAS AMMONITE. 

(Germ. JVohlverleiol) — to the attention of the profession, that 
we refer to the arnica at all. This oil is obtained from the 
flowers, and has been much recommended by Schneider in old 
cases of paralysis, which are the result of the apoplectic condi- 
tion. He himself often administered it with evident success ; 
the paralytic limbs becoming warmer, more active, and more 
serviceable under its use. 

Schneider mixes four drops of arnica oil with half an ounce of 
spiritus set heris sulphur id compositus or spiritussetheris nitrici, 
and of this he gives, for a dose, from four to twelve drops seve- 
ral times a day. The mixture has an agreeable smell and taste. 
Four drops of the oil to four ounces of sugar form a good elteo- 
saccharum* 



XX. ARSENIAS AMMONLE. 

Synonymes. Ammonium Arsenicum, Arseniate of Ammonia. 
French. Arseniate d'Ammoniaque. 
German. Arseniksaures Ammonium. 

This preparation of arsenic has been highly recommended, 
since the year 1818, by Biett, in several cutaneous diseases, and 
especially in psoriasis inveterataA 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

It may be prepared by taking arsenic acid one part/dissolv- 
ing it in water, and adding pure ammonia or carbonate of am- 
monia sufficient to saturate the acid ; — or, as follows : — Take 
of arsenious acid,one part ; nitric acid, four parts, muriatic acid, 
half a part ; saturate the solution with carbonate of ammonia, 
and let the arsenical salt crystallise. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

A grain of this salt may be dissolved in an ounce of distilled 
water ; and of the solution from twenty to twenty-five drops be 

* Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. S. 337. Stuttgart, 1837. 

f Cazenave, in Dict.de Medec. 2d edit. iv. 30 ; and Cazenave's and Scha- 
del's Practical Synopsis of Cutaneous Diseases, translated by R. E. Griffith, 
M.D. Philadelphia, 1829. 



ARSENIAS AMMOKIJE. 75 

given daily, gradually increasing the dose until it reaches a dram 
or more in the twenty-four hours. 

There does not seem to be much difference between the effects 
of this preparation and those of other forms of arsenic, that have 
been received into the Pharmacopoeias. Arsenious acid itself, 
as well as Arsenite of potassa and Arseniate of soda — the 
officinal solution of the former well known everywhere under 
the name of " Fowler's Solution ;" that of the latter known, in 
continental Europe especially, under the name " Aqua Arsenicalis 
Pearsonii" or Solution de Pearson, are possessed of precisely the 
same properties as arseniate of ammonia, and, like it, have been 
found equally efficacious in obstinate diseases of the skin. Nor 
is the knowledge of the agency of arsenical preparations in cuta- 
neous affections new. In India, the efficacy of arsenic in those 
diseases has been long known : and, in Europe, attention was 
attracted to it by Fowler,* and Girdlestone,t and subsequently 
by Willan,J Pearson,§ and others ; but no one administered the 
arsenical preparations more extensively in these diseases than 
M. Biett, of Paris, whose situation afforded him ample opportu- 
nities for testing the virtues of the different articles of the Materia 
Medica in skin complaints. He has succeeded by means of the 
arsenical preparations, and especially of the one now under con- 
sideration, in removing several inveterate affections of the skin, 
that had resisted every other remedy. The author has found 
equally beneficial results from this practice in his own experience. 
All chronic cutaneous diseases are dependent upon an alteration 
in the functions of the capillary vessels or vessels of nutrition of 
the part affected ; and there appear to be but two ways in which 
those vessels can be reached, so that a new action may be im- 
pressed upon them ; — in the one case, through the medium of 
the general circulation ; and, in the other, through the agency of 
topical applications, made to come in, contact with the diseased 
surface. Arsenic, — like iodine, mercury in small doses, and cer- 
tain other alteratives, — acts in the former way, modifying, after 
a protracted exhibition, the fluid of the circulation in such man- 
ner, that it makes an altered impression on the morbid capilla- 
ries, and breaks in upon the diseased catenation. In no case, 
however, have we observed these salutary effects, until the use 
of the arsenical preparation had been persevered in for several 
weeks. These diseases are chronic in their nature, and they re- 
quire a chronic medication. Time is, indeed, in every case, an 
element in the cure. 

* Medical Reports. London, 1786. 
f Essays on the Hepatitis, &c. of India. London, 1787. 
if. Description and Treatment of Cutaneous Diseases. London, 1798. 
\ Observations on the effects of various articles of the Materia Medica in 
the Venereal Disease, 2d edit. London, 1807. 



ARSENICI IODIDUM. 



XXL ARSEN'ICI IODFDUM. 

Svnonymes. Ioduretum Arsenici, Arsenicum Iodatum, Iodide of Arsenic. 
German. Iodarsenik, Arsenikiodure, lodarsen. 

Of late years, this preparation has been highly extolled by Biett, 
in the same class of affections as the last ; — applied externally. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

The iodide is prepared, according to Magendie,* in two ways : 
1. By heating in a glass alembic, a mixture of sixteen parts of 
arsenious acid and one hundred parts of iodine. The combina- 
tion sublimes in the form of orange coloured needles. 2. Thirty 
parts of pulverised arsenious acid, and one hundred parts of 
iodine are boiled in one thousand parts of water. As soon as 
the liquid becomes colourless, it is filtered, and the filtered solu- 
tion is evaporated to dryness. If it be thought advisable, this 
can be sublimed. 

A formula, employed by Plisson, is to digest three parts of 
arsenious acid, in fine powder, with ten parts of iodine, and one 
hundred and nine parts of water, until the odour of iodine is no 
longer manifested. The clear liquid is then decanted, and sub- 
jected to evaporation. At a certain degree of concentration, the 
iodide forms in red crystals ; or the solution may be evaporated 
to dryness, and then sublimed in close vessels without decompo- 
sition. 

Water, in large quantity, dissolves it wholly ; but if it be 
digested with a small quantity, it is decomposed, hydriodic acid 
being formed in solution, and white crystalline scales, composed 
of water, acid, and iodide in variable proportions.! 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

When iodide of arsenic is injected into the veins, it does not 
exert so strong an action on the heart as might be expected from 
so poisonous a substance. Mr. Blakef twice injected solutions, 
containing each six grains of this substance, into the jugular vein 
of a dog, without producing the slightest appreciable effect on 
the heart. On injecting a solution, containing fifteen grains, 
the action of the heart was immediately arrested. 

* Formulaire, edit. cit. 

f A. Duharnel, American Journal of Pharmacy, Oct. 1840, p. 187. 

% Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, April, 1839, p. 336. 



ARSENICI IODIDTJM. 77 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Biett has frequently applied the following ointment in cases of 
phagedenic tuberculous herpes. 

R. Arsenic, iodid. gr. iij. 
Adipis. gj. 

M. exacte ut fiat unguentum. 

Cazenave gives, as the usual proportion for an ointment, one 
part of the iodide to eighteen of lard. 

Professor A. T. Thomson has employed the iodide in several 
cases of lepra and impetigo, with very great success.* He begins 
with tenth of a grain doses three times a day, and increases them 
to a quarter of a grain. In some cases, he had not been able to 
exceed two-thirds of a grain, as symptoms of poisoning came on, 
and the medicine had to be given in diminished doses. 

More recently, the iodide has been given with success in a 
case of cancerous disease of the breast, by Dr. F. C. Crane.t The 
dose was an eighth of a grain, which was reduced to one-twelfth, 
and gradually increased to a third of a grain, beyond which it 
could not be borne. In a case of inveterate lepra vulgaris, it 
was carried to the extent of one grain the dose, with the most 
decided curative effects. 



An extemporaneous preparation, which is considered to combine 
the virtues of both arsenic and iodine, is said to have been em- 
ployed successfully in Philadelphia. It is formed as follows : 

R. Liquor iodin. compos, ^i. 

potassae arsenit. giv. M. 

When mixed together in these proportions, a change is observed 
in the appearance of the mixture, which is instantaneously 
rendered almost colourless. The dose is five drops.J 

* Lancet. Jan. 19, 1839, p. 621. 

f Lancet, Aug. 31, 1839. 

% A. Duhamel, Amer. Joura. of Pharmacy, Oct. 1840, p. 187. 



7* 



ARTEMISIA VULGARIS (RADIX). 



XXII. ARTEMISIA VULGA'RIS (RADIX). 

Synonymes. Mugwort. 

French. Armoise communp. 

German. Beifussvvurzel, Gemeiner Beifusswurzel. 

Almost all the species belonging to the genus artemisia are 
possessed of bitter and aromatic properties, and several afford 
" xuormseed." Artemisia vulgaris was employed by many of 
the older physicians, but it had fallen into oblivion, when its use 
was revived in Germany, by Burdach, a physician at Triebel, 
near Sorace,* who recommended it strongly as a preventive of 
epilepsy. Since that time, it has been much prescribed in that 
country, but its employment has not extended much to other 
countries of Europe, or to this side of the Atlantic. The root 
is the part preferred: — formerly the herb and the tops were 
solely used. 

The root was employed in epilepsy, centuries ago, but it had 
been neglected, or was only exhibited as a nostrum, when Bur- 
dach entered upon his investigations, of which the following is a 
summary. 

The root of the artemisia should be dug up in autumn, after 
the stalk has become dry, or in the spring before the stalk has 
shot up ; but perhaps the latter half of November is as good a 
period as any. It must be freed from the adherent earth by 
shaking. Burdach regards washing to be objectionable, as the 
root may lose some portion of its efficacy thereby. The old, 
ligneous, mouldy, and damaged parts of each root must be care- 
fully removed, and the fresh young side roots {fibrillx), which 
are distinguished by their smell, clear colour, and greater juici- 
ness, must be spread on paper, and dried in the shade, and as 
soon as they become brittle they must be carefully preserved. 
Besides the fibrillse, the soft, sound, and juicy parts of the root, 
especially the fleshy rind of the thicker roots, must be used. 

The period, required for drying them, varies ; in moist weather, 
it may require two months ; but late in the year the desiccation 
may be aided by the gentle warmth of the sun, or of a stove ; the 
latter must never, however, rise higher than from sixty-four to 
sixty-eight degrees of Fahrenheit. If put away too early, the 
root becomes spoiled ; if, too late, it loses many of its volatile 
parts. When powdered, it ought not to be kept too long, as the 
volatile portions escape and it soon becomes devoid of smell. 
Even during the process of pulverising, loss is sustained, 

* Hufeland's Journal, B. lviii. St. 4 und 5. 



ARTEMISIA VULGARIS. 79 

and the fresh powder has a much feebler odour than the entire 
root, so that Burdach advises for distant patients, that the root in 
substance should be sent to them, and that they should be re- 
commended to pound it for use in a well covered mortar. By 
pulverising, the inner, hard, woody parts are separated from the 
smaller roots ; they must be removed and thrown away, as the 
powder of the cortical substance of the small radicles has alone 
been found efficacious. The smell of the well dried root is very 
strong, pungent and peculiar, especially when we open a vessel 
in which it has been stored away in quantity. The taste is 
sweetish, sharp and nauseous. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

It has been already remarked, that Burdach* recommends the 
artemisia especially in epilepsy ; and he affirms that it requires 
no preparation or special attention. 

It is most efficacious when given about half an hour before the 
attack, which it usually prevents ; but if this be impracticable, it 
may be given as soon as the patient comes to. The dose is a 
heaped up tea-spoonful, (from fifty to seventy grains,) which may 
be administered in warm beer ; the patient should be put to bed 
immediately, be covered up warm, and allowed warm small beer 
to drink, so as to occasion diaphoresis — care being taken that 
he does not expose himself to cold. This course is to be repeated 
so long as there are any traces of mischief. When the remedy, 
however, acts favourably, Burdach asserts, that frequent repeti- 
tion is not often necessary. At times, it happens, that when the 
dose has been raised to a dram and a half, and thrice repeated, 
no critical sweat follows ; Burdach then aids the operation by 
giving the liquor comu cervi succinatus, {spiritus ammonias 
succinates,) in an infusion of serpentaria, valerian root and ar- 
nica llowers ; but the effect, he says, was always better when the 
diaphoresis was produced by artemisia alone. One important 
advantage in the use of this agent is, that a judgment can be 
lily formed of its utility : when much may be expected from 
it, a marked improvement usually occurs after the first doses. In 
those cases of epilepsy which recur every day, and sometimes 
even from three to fifteen times a day, and especially where the 
paroxysms are so violent and frequent, as to leave little interval 
for the patient to be restored to consciousness, the artemisia has 
proved more certain in its operation, either by removing or miti- 
gating the disease. In such cases, two doses were given on the 
first day, and afterwards one tolerably strong dose daily till the 

♦ Casper's Wochenschrift, Oct. 22, 183G, S. 675. 



SO ARTEMISIA VULGARIS. 

third day. In those forms of epilepsy, whose attacks recurred 
twice daily, morning and evening, the artemisia acted very benefi- 
cially; the paroxysms soon became somewhat weaker, and shorter, 
and were postponed a day or two. In such cases it is advisable 
to continue the remedy for some weeks. Infants at the breast bear 
the artemisia especially well. It is equally efficacious in the epi- 
leptic attacks of young females from twelve to fifteen years of age, 
and prior to the establishment of menstruation. Under its use, 
the catamenia have generally taken place, and the epilepsy has 
disappeared. On the other hand, it was found to aggravate cases of 
epilepsy occurring as a disease of growth, (Entwickelungskrank- 
heit,) in young persons from seventeen to twenty-two years old, 
and as a consequence of great corporeal development. It was 
equally unfortunate in cases of epilepsia nocturna, where the 
paroxysms came on irregularly at an interval of about five, ten, 
or fifteen days, and generally about midnight ; as well as in that 
form in which, — after the patient had suffered for six, seven, or 
eight weeks,under violent symptomatic sweats, — a morbid con- 
dition ensued from two to three times every twenty-four hours, 
consisting of repeated epileptic attacks, with great prostration in 
the intervals. 

These are the main results of the communications of Burdach 
on this subject.* The number of his experiments and observa- 
tions was considerable, and the results appear to have been fre- 
quently most happy, especially in the case of females, who seem 
to have exhibited themselves more beneficially impressed by the 
remedy than males ; the proportion of cures being as three to 
two. Tosettit gives the proportion of cases in women and chil- 
dren to that of men, as eight to six. 

In the Berlin Charite, artemisia is said to have been used with 
equal success. The German journals contain numerous cases, 
on the authority of E. Grafe,J Wagner,§ Van Maanen,|| Wolf,H 
Osann, Bonorden,** Schlilter, Bird,ttLovvenhard,J| Geis,§§ and 
others.|||| But few physicians, according to Riecke, have been 
disappointed in it, and, where they have been, he ascribes the 
failure to its having been given in cases for which it was inappro- 

* Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. S. 49. Stuttgart, 1837. 
f Diss, inaug. de Radice Artemis, vulof. remed. antiepilept. Berolin, 1827 : 
and Osann in Art. Artemisia, Encyc. Worterb. iii. 313. Berlin, 1829. 
% Grafe und Wallher's Journal, B. vi. H. 2. 
§ Hnfeland's Journal, lix. S. 6. 
|| Ibid. Ixi. 5. 
If Ibid. lxii. 3. 
** Ibid. lx. 1. 
ft Ibid. lxv. 3. 
XX Ibid. lxv. 3. 
%\ Ibid. lxv. 3. 
Ill Richter's Specielle Therapie. B. x. S. 377. Berlin, 1828. 



ARTEMISIA VULGARIS. 81 

priate, or to the preparation of the artemisia not having been 
properly attended to.* 

In consequence of a German physician having recommended 
Artemisia absinthium to Professor A. T. Thomson, Professor 
Elliotsonf was induced to try it in epilepsy. The patient to 
whom he gave it was a girl, seventeen years of age, who had been 
affected with epileptic fits for four months — three or four occur- 
ring daily. A dram of the powder was given three times a day. 
This was on the 30th of March. On the 9th of April, the dose 
was increased to two drams, when the fits became less frequent, 
but not less severe. On the 16th, the dose was repeated every 
four hours. She had only one slight fit in the course of twelve 
days ; and on her dismissal, on the 24th of May, she had had no 
fit for twenty-six days. Dr. Elliotson was of opinion, that the 
strong infusion would be less offensive to the patient, and quite 
as effective as the powder. 

Besides epilepsy, artemisia has been used with advantage in 
other diseases, as in St. Vitus's dance.% Wutzer employed it 
successfully in the convulsive diseases of childhood, and it was 
recommended by Biermann§ in eclampsia infantum, occurring 
during the period of dentition. He recommended it to be given 
to children in gradually increasing doses, commencing with half 
a grain ; and giving, an hour afterwards, a grain, and in two hours, 
two grains, which is usually the last dose required. The gradual 
augmentation of the dose he considers advisable, " to prevent 
the crisis which the artemisia induces from being too turbulent." 
Kolreuter, of Carlsruhe, administered the artemisia in different 
diseases with great success. He prefers the extractum resinosum 
radicis artemisise vulgaris to the root in substance. This is 
prepared in the following manner. A quantity of the dried and 
powdered root is covered with alcohol, and permitted to digest 
for some time : the filtered liquor is then evaporated in an earthen- 
ware vessel, until it has attained the consistence of an extract. 
Kolreuter employed this advantageously in the eclampsia of chil- 
dren (in certain cases after the application of leeches) ; in tor- 
mina unaccompanied by inflammation ; in the diarrhoea of chil- 
dren and adults ; in sporadic cases of cholera morbus, and in 
dysentery, after the bloody evacuations had ceased in gastric 
fevers, on their assuming a nervous character ; andin dysphagia, 
eardialgia, chronic vomiting, scirrhus of the stomach, chronic 
cephalalgia nui\ neuralgia of the face ; in chlorosis, and in obstruc- 
tion of the calamenia, as well as in. epilepsy. The dose in the 



* Op. cit. S. 49. 

] Lancet, July 9, Ifl3fi. 

X Gittermann, in Ilufeland's Journal, Ixii. 1. Bonorden, Op. cit. 

§ Itiecke, Op. cit. S. 50. 



82 ARTEMISIA VULGARIS. 

twenty- four hours, is from 5ss. to 5j- ; to small children, a few 
grains. 

Such is the chief testimony adduced in favour of the arte- 
misia by the German writers mainly. It is to be feared, that 
the advantages to be derived from it in epilepsy have been 
exaggerated. Where there is no organic disease of the en- 
cephalon, substances, which, like it, are nauseous, bitter and 
aromatic, may be productive of advantage in the way of tonics 
and revellents. In one case of this nature it was employed by 
the author, but the results were not striking. When aided by 
other means and appliances, it appears to be powerfully diapho- 
retic ; and doubtless, therefore, in appropriate cases — especially 
where there is much nervous impressibility — it may be produc- 
tive of the good effects ascribed to it by Burdach, Kolreuter, and 
others. Yet — as Osann has remarked* — it must be improper 
where polyaemia, or a tendency to active hyperasmia, is present. 
The analysis of Hergt, Hummel, and Jiinike afforded, along with 
traces of volatile oil, some balsamic resin, both of which are ex- 
citants to the living economy. 

MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The following forms for its administration have been adopted 
by some of the German authorities : — 

Decoctum artemisise. 

Decoction of mugwort. 

R Rad. artemis. vulg. concis. sj. 

Coque cum aquse fontanse q. s. per semihoram. 
ad. colat. Oj. 

Half a tea-cupful of this may be taken every two hours in 
cases of epilepsy. 

Hildenbrand. 

Pnlvis artemisis. 

Powder of mugwort. 

R. Rad. artemis. vulg. in pulvere, Jj. 
Sacch. alb. 9j. M. et fiat pulvis. 

The powder to be administered daily in the evening, in warm 
beer, in cases of epilepsy. Lowenstein. 

* Art. Artemisia in Encyc. Worterb. iii. 313. Berlin, 1829. 



ATJRI PR.EPARATA. 83 

Mistura artemisiae. 

Mixture of mugwort. 

R. Ext. resin, artemis. vulg. gr. iv. 
Acacise, 9j. 
Sacch. 3iij- 
Mist, amygd. f. ^iij. 

A coffee-spoonful* to be given every half hour in eclampsia 
■infantum. The dose may be gradually raised to two coffee- 
spoonfuls. Kblreuter. 



AURI PR^EPARA'TA. 

Synonymes. Preparations of Gold. 
French. Les preparations d'Or. 
German. Goldpraparate. 

The administration of gold in medicine is not modern. In the 
times of alchemy, it was frequently used in nervous diseases, 
convulsions, hypochondriasis, mental affections, profuse saliva- 
tion, &c. Paracelsus, Horst, and Poterius recommended it, 
united with corrosive sublimate, in syphilis. Its violent effects, 
however, brought it into discredit, and during the decadency of 
alchemy it fell into entire disuse.t It is probable, too, that many 
preparations were brought forward as containing gold, which 
had none of it, and this may partly account for the discredit into 
which it lapsed.^ M. J. A. Chrestien§ was the first who — in 
more modern periods — (about the year 1810) recalled the at- 
tention of practitioners to the use of the preparations of gold, and 
after him many physicians employed them, so that the published 
results of their observations have furnished us with a consider- 
able amount of evidence in relation to the therapeutical proper- 
ties of those preparations, and they have, in consequence, been 
received into many of the modern pharmacopoeias. || 

* About two ordinary tea-spoonfuls. 

t Richter's Specielle Tbeiapie, x. 504, Berlin, 1828 ; and Nachet, Art. Or, 
in Diet, des Sciences Medicales, torn, xxxvii. 

£ Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, S. 53. Stuttgart, 1837. 

$ Recherches et observations sur les efTets des preparations d'Or du Dr. 
Chrestien, &c. Paris, 1821. 

|| See Art. Gold, in Encycl. Wbrterb. der medicinisch. Wiasenscbaft. B. 
xv. S. 77. Berlin, 1837. 



84 AURI PR.EPARATA. 

As the different preparations agree in their effects on the 
economy, it may be well to make a few observations which 
apply to all. 



EFFECTS ON TIIE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

Orfila made many experiments to discover the action of the 
preparations of gold on animals. Three dogs, into whose jugu- 
lar veins he injected a small quantity of the chloride of gold dis- 
solved in water, died speedily — death being preceded by diffi- 
culty and rattling in breathing, cough, symptoms of suffocation 
and slight vomiting ; these results supervening immediately after 
the injection had entered the bloodvessels. 

On dissection, the lungs were found livid, engorged with blood, 
and without any crepitating noise when cut into ; wrinkled, dis- 
coloured, and scarcely lighter than water ; the heart was of a 
violet colour; the left auricle and ventricle full of black blood, 
and the right cavities empty and contracted. The effect of the 
salt supervened with such rapidity, that the blood of the crural 
artery — which was opened a few minutes after death — was 
of a brownish-red, almost black, colour. In two dogs, to which 
he gave the chloride of gold, a torpid condition was induced, 
which terminated fatally in a couple of days. The mucous 
membrane of the stomach was found inflamed and ulcerated. 

The effects on man of agents so potent in appropriate doses, 
have been investigated by many observers. Experiments on 
animals had already exhibited the powerful influence, which 
they are capable of exerting on the organs and functions of 
organic life. One of the most prominent effects appears to be, 
an increase of the various secretions ; commonly, the urinary 
secretion is largely augmented, as well as the transpiration, and 
the intestinal and salivary secretions. Not unfrequentiy, under 
the continued administration of the gold, actual salivation ensues, 
which differs, however, from that induced by mercury. It is 
always slow in appearing, is by no means so exhausting as that 
caused by mercury ; nor do troublesome ulcers occur ; and the 
saliva is thinner, and not so tenacious. Like mercury, the pre- 
parations of gold occasion excitement in the organism, which 
often ends in a true febrile condition : after they have been taken 
for some time in moderate doses, there is generally a feeling of 
increased warmth in the stomach, and an augmentation of the 
appetite. The pulse is rendered fuller and more active, and the 
animal heat and vital activity are augmented, so that in such as 
are predisposed to the affection, hemorrhage is apt to take place. 
The cat ame uia recur sooner than usual under their influence, 



ATJRI PRJEPARATA. S5 

and the quantity lost may be greater.* Sooner or later, a regu- 
lar attack of fever not unfrequently supervenes, — as indicated by 
shivering, and pains in the limbs, back, and stomach, which may 
continue for a few hours, but sometimes lasts for days, and at 
length ends by sweating, depositions in the urine, and occasion 
ally by salivation. 

In very large doses, certain of the preparations of gold are 
corrosive poisons. The symptoms, caused by their use, when 
they act as such, are — oppression in the region of the stomach ; 
nausea, vomiting, pains in the abdomen and diaphragm, a me- 
tallic taste in the mouth, augmented secretion of saliva, without 
the teeth or gums being affected, pulse excited, and breathing 
oppressed.f As a general rule, they are not esteemed proper 
for impressible individuals ; on the other hand, in persons of 
torpid constitutions, they would appear to have exerted an ex- 
citant influence even on the generative system. Certain persons, 
according to Chrestienand Niel, are not susceptible of this action ; 
and, again, there are some, according to Cullerier, junr., who can- 
not tolerate them in any form. 

When too large a dose has been given, the remedy should be 
entirely discontinued for some time, or the dose be diminished ; 
the effects will soon disappear. One of the greatest recommen- 
dations of gold over mercury, in the eyes of many, is, that it 
does not act so destructively on the organism, and never induces 
such a cachectic condition as the latter occasionally does.J 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

The diseases, in which the preparations of gold have been 
administered, in modern times, are chiefly the following. 

1. Syphilis. — They have been occasionally used in primary 
sores, but have been mainly employed in secondary syphilis, 
especially in old cases, where a doubt often exists, whether more 
of mercurial cachexia or of syphilis be present. They are given, 
also, where there is a scrofulous complication, and where it is 
desirable to exhibit some other remedy than mercury ; and 
lastly, their use is indicated where mercury has failed in remov- 
ing syphilis.§ Many practitioners doubt, whether the prepara- 
tions of gold should be esteemed much inferior to those of mercury. 
Numerous experiments, instituted, amongst others, by Chrestien,|| 

* Riecke, Op. cit. S. 55. 
t Gr6tzner,in Rush's Magazin, xxi. 3. 
X Riecke. Op. cit. S. 56. 

§ Eberle, Treatise on the Mat. Medica, 2d edit. i. 247. 
|J Op. Citat. p. 6 ; see, also, Lettre & M. Magendie eur les preparations d'Or, 
&c. Paris, 1828. 
S 



S6 AT7RI PR.EPARATA. 

Cullerier,junr.,*S. L.Mitchill,tNiel,Biett, Lallemand,J Wendt,§ 
and Legrand,|| have shown, that their employment has been 
most advantageous in the different forms of syphilis, and that 
they have rarely disappointed expectation. Alibert found them 
especially useful in syphilitic eruptions. It must be borne in 
mind, however, that when they are given in syphilis, their 
operation is slow, and that, in the first instance, the symptoms 
may appear aggravated : they are not, therefore, adapted for 
cases in which it is important to act speedily, so as to arrest the 
disease at once, and prevent its farther development. 

2. Gonorrhoea. — In protracted cases of gonorrhoea, several 
physiciansll have extolled the preparations of gold : others, as 
Wendt and Ritter, have advised them for the sequelae of gonor- 
rhoea ( Trippernachkrankheiten) : it is not probable, however, 
that they could be of much use in gonorrheal affections, which, 
as is well known, are curable without any mercurial preparations. 

3. Scrophula. — The efficacy of the preparations of gold in 
scrophula,was deposed to by Chrestien, Eberle, Niel, Legrand,** 
Herrmann, and Kopp.tt According to observation, it would ap- 
pear, that they effect improvement in the mildest cases, and are 
beneficial where there is much torpor, but that they ought to be 
avoided in irritable subjects. In scrophulous ophthalmia, and in 
scrophulous porrigo, they would seem to have been most effica- 
cious. 

Recently, the preparations of gold have been employed by M. 
Baudelocque, at the Hdpital des Enfans Malades, and by M. 
Velpeau at La Charite.^ % At the former institution, they were 
given in enormous doses. M. Baudelocque gave the chloride 
and the stannate in doses of from ten to twelve grains, without 
producing any effect on the disease, and without any apparent 
injury to the constitution of the children subjected to the experi- 
ment. The oxide of gold prepared by potassa was carried as 
high as twenty grains during the day. At La Charite, Velpeau 
gave fifteen, eighteen, and twenty grains of the chloride and 
oxide of gold during the day, — and higher doses were not tried, 
solely on account of the expense of the medicine. These results 
are strongly discordant from those of Orfila and Devergie, the 
former of whom affirms, that the chloride of gold is more active 
than the corrosive chloride of mercury ; and the latter states, that 

* Diet, des Sciences Medicales, Art. Or., torn, xxxvii. 

f Dyckman's Dispensatory, p. 201, and Eberle, Op. cit. 

I Journal Universel des Sciences Medicales, t. xxvii. 

§ Rust's Magazin, Bd. xvi. St. 1. 

jj Gazette Medicale de Paris, Oct. 30, 1837. 

If Grotzner, Op. cit. 

** Bulletin General de Therapeutique, No. xv. Aout. 15, 1837. 

ft Denkwlirdigk. in der arztl. Praxis, iii. 351. 

$% L'Experience, No. lxxxvii. ; and Lancet, March 23, 1839, p. 31. 



AT7RI CHLORIDUM. 87 

in the dose of one-tenth to one-twentieth of a grain, it produces 
more or less inflammation of the lining membrane of the stomach 
and intestines. 

4. Scirrhus and cancer. — The utility of the preparations of 
gold appears to have been most decided in scirrhous induration 
of the tongue, according to the observation of Wendt, Helm, and 
others; in such case, they are rubbed on the tongue ; this, indeed, 
is the most common form of administration. H. Hoffmann relates 
a case of scirrhus of the pylorus, in which the chloride of gold 
was entirely successful ; and frictions with the chloride, or the 
oxide of gold on the labia pudendi have been recommended by 
Hufeland, Herrmann, Meissner, Grotzner, Gozzi,*and others, in 
cases of scirrhus and cancer of the uterus. In the same affections, 
Krimer has advised them to be applied to the os uteri. Scirrhosi- 
ties, it is affirmed, have been dispersed through their agency ; and 
even in open cancer marked improvement has been perceptible. 

5. In tumours of the bones, and in like affections, the prepa- 
rations of gold have been employed successfully by some prac- 
titioners, and especially when the cases originated in syphilis. 

6. Several forms of lepra have been treated with them by 
Alibert, and A. T. Chrestien, and with the best effects. 

8. In amenorrhcea, Carron du Villards employed the cyanuret 
successfully, beginning before the expected menstrual period. 

Lastly. — Wendt, Delafield, and Grotzner have administered 
them with benefit as diuretics in dropsy. With others, however, 
they have failed. According to Riecke,t the results of experience 
would seem to show, that they are especially adapted for dropsy 
dependent upon organic disease of some viscus. 

None of the preparations of gold are much employed at the pre- 
sent day. Their expense is, indeed, a weighty objection — unless 
there were striking advantages in adopting them in special cases 
of disease in preference to other articles of the Materia Medica. 



XXIII. AURI CHLO'RIDUM. 

Synonymes. Aurum Chloratum, A. muriaticuir., Chloretum Auri, Murias 
Auri, urum Oxydulatum Muriaticum, Aurum Salitum, Chloruretum Auri, 
Auri Terchloridum, Muriate of Gold, Chloride of Gold, Terchloride of Grid. 

French. Chlorure d'Or, Muriate d'Or. 

German. Salzsaures Gold, Chlorgold, Goldchlorid, Salzsaure Goldoxydul. 

This preparation is received into several of the European Phar- 
macopoeias, and is usually formed by digesting one part of gold 
leaf m three parts of the nitro-muriatic acid, in a sand bath, and 

* Sopra Puso di alcuni remedii aurifici nolle malattie venere. Bologn. 
1817 ; and Omodei, Annal. Univers. di Medicin., vol v. 
i Op. cit. S. 58. 



SS AURI PR^PARATA. 

evaporating gently to dryness. Magendie,* however, recom- 
mends the following method, which has been adopted in the 
French " Codex." 

Take one part of fine leaf gold, divide it into small portions, 
and put it into a vial of white glass ; pour upon it three parts of 
nitro-muriatic acid — formed of one part of nitric acid, and 
two parts of muriatic acid — and heat the whole in a small sand 
bath, so arranged, that in case the retort breaks, the fluid may be 
recovered without loss. The solution of the gold will soon take 
place. The fluid must then be evaporated until the smell of 
chlorine is perceptible. This point can be readily determined, as 
after the decomposition of the nitro-muriatic acid there is a period 
during which the nitrous acid is alone given off. The disengage- 
ment of chlorine indicates the commencement of the decomposi- 
tion of the chloride formed. The vessel must now be removed 
from the fire and suffered to cool. The chloride appears imme- 
diately as a crystalline mass, in the form of a multitude of beau- 
tiful yellow needles. In this condition, chloride of gold is as 
pure as it need be : it contains no excess of muriatic acid, and is 
not deliquescent. 

It can be preserved in the same vessel in which it has been pre- 
pared — by merely stopping it with paper — without any danger 
of its undergoing decomposition. 

Chloride of gold, prepared according to Magendie's formula, 
is very acid, but this property is not owing to its containing any 
free acid. The taste is also styptic and disagreeable. It only 
attracts moisture from the air when it contains an excess of mu- 
riatic acid, as is the case in Wendt's preparation. It is readily 
soluble in water, with which it forms a solution of a beautiful 
yellow colour. 

Many animal and vegetable substances, — and especially the 
epidermis, — are coloured by it of a purple violet when it is 
placed in contact with them. Exposed to a moderate heat, it 
passes to the state of protochloride. When heated to a greater 
degree in close vessels, chlorine is disengaged and metallic gold 
left behind. 

The chloride is one of the most active of the preparations of 
gold. It belongs to the class of corrosive poisons,t and greatly 
resembles the corrosive chloride of mercury in its operation on 
the economy. It must consequently be administered with caution : 
— even a tenth of a grain has been known to induce unpleasant 
irritation of the stomach.! It has been given both internally 
and externally in syphilis, dropsy, § and glandular affections. 

* Formulaire. 

f Orfila, Toxicolog. i. 593. 

j Magendie, Formulaire. 

§ Wendt, in Rust's Magazin, B. xxv. 



AURI CHLORIDUM. 89 

The dose is from one-sixteenth to one-twelfth of a grain once 
or twice a day, gradually but slowly increased. In the like 
quantity it has been rubbed upon the tongue and gums. Exter- 
nally, it has been applied in the form of ointment or watery solu- 
tion — the last more particularly in ophthalmia, especially of the 
scrophulous kind, in which Jahn found it very efficacious. 

The following are some of the forms in which it has been pre- 
scribed : — 

Boli auri chloridi. 

Boluses of chloride of gold. 

{Boli antisyphilitici, Pharmacopoeia Batava.) 

Antisyphilitic Boluses. 

R. Auri chlorid. gr. ss. ad gr. ij. 

Extract, aconit. gr. vj.ad gr. xij. Fiant boli sex. 

Two of these to be taken for a dose, and repeated three times 
a day. 

Pihilffi auri ehloridi. 

Pills of chloride of gold. 

(Pilulx chhrureti auri, Ph. Amstelodamensis nova.) 

R. Auri chlorid. gr. x. 

Glycyrrhiz. rad. pulv. Jiij. 
Syrup, q. s. ut fiant pilulae cl. 

Dose. — One daily, gradually augmenting the quantity. 

R. Auri chlorid. gr. i. 

Pulv. lycopod. gr. xv. M. fiat pulv. in part. xvi. dividend. 

One of the powders to be rubbed upon the tongue and gum« 
daily. Chrestien. 

Gradually, the same quantity of the chloride may be divided 
into twelve, and afterwards into ten parts, and be used in the 
same way. 



8* 



90 AURI PRJEPARATA. 

Unguentum auri chloridi. 
Ointment of chloride of gold- 
's,.. Auri chlorid. gr. iv. 
Misce intime cum 

Ung. rosae. 5J. 



Coilyrium auri chloridi. 
Colly rium of chloride of gold. 
R. Auri chlorid. gr. ij. 

Aquae destill. gvj. 
F. coilyrium. 



Wendt. 



Solve in 



To be applied by means of linen compresses, or dropped into 
the eye. Jahn. 



XXIV. AURI ET SO'DII CHLO'RIDUM. 

Synonymes. Aurum Muriaticum (Pharmac. Borussic), Aurum Muriaticum 
Natronatum, Aurum Chloratum Natronatum, Sodii Auro-Terchloridum, 
Perchloruretum Auri et Sodii, Chloretum Auri cum Chloreto Natrii, Murias 
Aurico-natricum, Chloruretum Auri et Sodii, Chloride of Gold and Sodium, 
Hydrochlorate or Muriate of Gold and Sodium, Auro-terchloride of Sodium. 

French. Hydrochlorate, ou Muriate d'Or et de Soude. 

German. Salzsaures Goldnatrum, Chlorgoldnatronium, Goldnatriumchlorid. 

This preparation is in the Pharmacopoeias of Prussia, Ferrara, 
Sweden, &c. 

Figuier directs it to be prepared in the following manner.* 
Dissolve four parts of gold in nitro-muriatic acid, and evaporate 
the solution to dryness ; add thirty-two parts of water, and one 
part of chloride of sodium, and evaporate to one half. On cool- 
ing, crystals will form, which consist of 69.3 parts of chloride of 
gold; 14.1 parts of chloride of sodium, and 16.6 of water. 

In the French " Codex," it is directed to be made by dissolv- 
ing 85 parts by weight of chloride of gold, and 16 parts of chlo- 
ride of sodium, in a small quantity of distilled water. The 

* Annales de Chimie, Fevrier, 1822, and Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, 
S. 63, Stuttgart, 1837. 



AURI ET SODII CHLORIDTJM. 91 

solution is evaporated by a gentle heat until a pellicle forms, 
and is then put aside to crystallize. 
The formula of the Prussian Pharmacopoeia is as follows : — 

R. Auri, partes vj. 
Solve in 

Acidi muriatici, q. s. 

Acidi nitrici quantum ad auri solutionem requiritur, guttatim addendo. 
Tunc admisc. 

Natri muriatici sice. part. x. 
Et post solutionem leni igne evaporando in pulverem flavum redige.* 

This preparation has a beautiful yellow colour, and appears 
under the form of four-sided prisms. It attracts moisture from 
the air, but to a less degree than the chloride of gold with excess 
of sulphuric acid. 

The Aurum Muriaticum Natronatum of the Germans is 
milder than the preceding preparations, and is more frequently 
administered, especially in Germany, than any of the preparations 
of gold. It is used both internally and externally. 

The dose is about the same as that of the last preparation, but 
it may be carried higher. 

Kopp afhrms,t that he has frequently employed this prepara- 
tion with advantage, in small doses, in scrophulous tumefaction 
of the upper lip. He prescribed daily, and once or twice a day, 
from one twenty-fourth to one-thirteenth of a grain of it, reduced 
to powder, with two grains of sugar, and, by means of the finger, 
rubbed on the inner side of the affected lip. In cases of scro- 
phulous, thick, sensible, and slightly inflamed nose, in the adult, 
RieckeJ recommends the ointment, given below, to be applied to 
the nasal fossae ; and three times a day a powder composed of 
from one-sixteenth to one-twelfth of a grain of the salt of gold to 
two grains of sugar of milk, to be rubbed on the gums with the 
moistened finger. The salts of gold, according to Riecke, appear 
to have a specific action on the organs in the mouth, on the gums 
and the nose ! ! 

* Take of gold, six parts: 

Dissolve in a sufficient quantity of 

Muriatic acid, adding as much nitric acid as is required to dissolve the 
gold. Then mix ten parts of dry muriate of soda ; and after evaporating the 
solution over a slow fire reduce it to a yellow powder, 
t Op. cit. 13. iii.S. 351. 
% Die neuern Arzneimittel, u s. w. S.442. 



93 AURI PRffiPARATA. 

Pulvis anri et sodii chloridi. 

Powder of chloride of gold and sodium. 

R. Auri et sodii chlorid. part. iij. 

Irid. florent. in pulv. subtil, part. ix. 

Three grains of this represent three-quarters of a grain of 
the salt of gold. These three grains are divided into thirty fric- 
tions for the weakest doses, and into three for the strongest. 
Starch may be substituted for the powdered orris root. 

Legrand. 

Liquor auri et sodii chloridi. 

Solution of chloride of gold and sodium. 

R. Auri et sodii chlorid. gr. ij. 
Aquae destillat. f.gj. M. 

Ten drops to be given every two or three hours, in cases of 
dropsy. Grotzner. 

Pilulae auri et sodii chloridi. 

Pills of chloride of gold and sodium. 

R. Auri et sodii chlorid. in aquae destillat. q. s. solut. gr. iv. 
Extract, aconiti, 9ss. 

dulcam. 3J- 

Althaeae rad. pulv. q. s. ut riant pilulae lxxx. 

Three pills to be taken three times a day. Grotzner. 

Pastilli auri et sodii chloridi. 

Lozenges of chloride of gold and sodium. 

R. Auri et sodii chlorid. gr. v. 
Sacchar. pulv. 3J. 
Misce exaete in mortar, vitreo. 

Mucilag. acaciae q. s. ut fiant pastilli lx. 

Each of these will contain about one-twelfth of a grain of the 
salt. A. T. Chrestien. 



AURI CVANURETITM. 93 

Pilulffi anri et sodii chloridi. 

Pills of chloride of gold and sodium. 

R. Amyli. solan, tuberos. gr. iv. 
Acaciee, Jj- 
In mort. vitr. exacte mistis adde terendo 

Aur. et sod. chlorid. — in Jj. aq. destillat. solut. — gr. x. 
Fiant pilulae cxx. 

Each of these contains about one-twelfth of a grain. 

Ji. T. Chrestien. 

Unguentum auri et sodii chloridi. 

Ointment of chloride of gold and sodium. 

R. Aur. et sod. chlorid. gr. iij. — iv. 
Adipis. §ss. 
Misce exacte. Fiat unguentum. 

Used in friction. Grotzner. 

R. Aur. et sod. chlorid. gr. iiss. 
Adipis, Jiss. M. 

The size of a bean to be placed in the nasal fossge in scrophu- 
lous cases* along with the iatraleiptic use of the powder before 
described. Hiecke. 

XXV. AURI CYANURE'TUM. 

Synonymes. A. Cyanidum, A. Tercyanidum, Cyanuret, Cyanide or Tercy- 

anide of gold. 
French. Cyanure d'Or. 

The mode of preparing this combination, recommended by 
M. 0. Figuier,t of Montpellier, is as follows. He decomposes 
chloride of gold by cyanuret of potassium, but states, that many 
precautions arc necessary to procure it in a pure state. The 
chloride must be as neutral as possible, which can only be effected 
by recrystallising the salt several times. The cyanuret must not 

* See page 91. 

■\ Journal de Pharmacie, xx. S. 99. and Amer. Journ. of Pharm. vi. 82. 
Philad. 1833-4. See, for another mode of preparing it, Deferre, in Bulletin 
General de Therapeutique, Fevrier, 1838. 



94 AtTRI PR.EPARATA. 

be alkaline, or contain any formiate or carbonate of potassa. 
This salt is to be added to the solution of the chloride of gold 
very cautiously as long as there is any precipitate, taking care 
that there is not the slightest excess of the cyanuret,as this would 
cause a solution of part of the product, and the formation of 
soluble double cyanurets. The cyanuret, thus made, is to be 
well washed with pure water, and dried in a dark place. 

The process in the French " Codex" consists essentially in 
adding very carefully a solution of pure cyanuret of potassium 
to a solution of chloride of gold, until a precipitate — which is 
cyanuret of gold — ceases to be formed. The chloride of gold, 
prior to solution, should be deprived of all excess of acid by 
heating it in a salt water bath. 

It is a yellow powder, which is insoluble in water.* 

In some experiments, Magendiet found, that cyanuret of gold 
is one of the substances that promote the coagulation of the 
blood. Where, consequently, it is desirable to impress a modi- 
fication on that fluid in chronic cutaneous, and other, affec- 
tions, its administration might perhaps be found useful, 

M. Pourche,J who has used it successfully in syphilis and scro- 
phula, recommends its administration — in the form of frictions 
on the tongue — mixed with powdered orris root, well washed 
in alcohol, and dried. 

Pulvis anri cyanureti. 

Powder of cyanuret of gold. 

R. Auri cyanur. gr. j. 

Pulv. irid. florent. gr. iij. M. 

In pills he prescribes it as follows : — 

PilulaB anri cyanureti. 

Pills of cyanuret of gold. 

R. Auri cyanur. gr. j. 

Ext. mezereon. gr. iij. 
Althaeas pulv. q. s. ut fiat massa. 

Each pill to weigh five grains. 

To children, the dose at first should never exceed one-fifteenth 
of a grain. 

* Pereira, Elements of Mat. Med. &c. 2d edit. i. 686. Lond. 1842; or 
Arner. edit, by Dr. Carson, Philad. 1843. 

t Lemons sur le Sang, &c. ; and Translation, in Lancet, January 20, 1839, 
p. 636. 

I Journal de Pharmacie, xx. 599 and 649. 



AURI I0DIDTJM. 95 

Mistnra sen Liquor anri cyanureti. 

Mixture or solution ofcyanuret of gold. 

R. Auri cyanur. gr. iij. 

Aquae alcoholisat. f.gviij. M. 

Dose. — A tea-spoonful twice a day, gradually increasing the 
dose. 



XXVI. AURI IO'DIDUM. 

Synonymes. A. Ioduretum, Iodide or loduret of Gold. 
French. Proto-iodure d'Or. 

According to the French Codex, this is made by adding a solu- 
tion of pure iodide of potassium to a solution of chloride of gold, 
collecting the iodide of gold, which falls down, on a filter, and 
washing it with alcohol to remove the excess of iodine, which 
precipitates with it. M. Meillet* recommends the following 
process in preference. To a solution of gold as neutral as pos- 
sible is added by degrees neutral hydriodate of ammonia so long 
as a precipitate falls. The solution must not be too far diluted. 
A small quantity of alcohol must now be added, not more than 
about one-third of the whole volume of the liquid. After some 
hours' rest, this is decanted, when a precipitate of a blackish 
colour is obtained, composed of iodine, and iodide of gold. It is 
then washed by decantation with a little alcohol ; when an almost 
white and half crystalline iodide of gold is obtained. This is 
dried in the open air on plates ; and is kept free from light in 
stopper bottles. In this process, the gold is completely precipi- 
tated, which never occurs when the iodide of potassium is em- 
ployed ; and the iodide has an invariable composition.t 

This has been used in the same cases as the other prepara- 
tions of gold, in the dose of one-fifteenth to one-tenth of a 
grain. 

* Journal de Pharmacie, Nov. 1841, p. 665. 

f For another process for forming the iodide of gold, see M. J. Fordos, 
Journal de Pharmacie, Nov. 1841, p. 653. 



96 AURI PR.EPARATA. 



XXVII. AURI NITROMU'RIAS. 

Synonymes. Aurum Nitrico-Muriaticura, Nitromuriate of Gold. 
German. Saltpetersalzsaures Gold. 

Nitromuriate of gold has been recommended, of late years, by 
Recamier, whose attention was directed to it by accident. A 
worker in gold had a cancerous tumour on the back, which, as 
it incommoded him, he touched frequently with the hand ; this 
occurred whilst he was dissolving gold in aqua regia ; after this 
the tumour soon presented another appearance, and disappeared 
in a short time. Recamier thought it probable, that the work- 
man had received some of the solution upon his fingers, which 
had thus been applied to the tumour. Under such impressions, 
he employed it in the case of a female, who was affected with 
an extensive cancer ; the disorganised parts resumed their natural 
texture, and completely healed, although the cancerous dyscrasy 
ultimately proved fatal. In the case of a female, with fu?igus of 
the neck of the uterus, a complete cure was effected by it ; and 
in cancer of the uterus he found it very advantageous. 

Recamier prepares it by dissolving six grains of pure chloride 
of gold in an ounce of nitromuriatic acid: and he applies it, like 
other corrosive agents, taking care to confine it to the parts to be 
acted upon. When the object is to cauterise, it must be applied 
to the affected parts, until a whitish scab or crust is formed, which 
falls off in three or four days ; after which the application may 
be repeated as often as may be necessary. The pain, caused by 
the operation, is generally insignificant, and in cases where it is 
violent it can be allayed by pledgets dipped in laudanum. 



XXVIII. AURI OX'IDUM. 

Synonymes. Auri Teroxidum, Aurum Oxydatum, Oxide of Gold, Peroxide 

of Gold, Auric Acid. 
French. Oxide d'Or. 
German. Goldoxyd, Oxydirtes Gold. 

Oxide of gold, prepared by calcination, is the crocus solis of 
the Wirtemberg Pharmacopoeia. The oxide is received also into 
the Pharmacopoeias of Ferrara, and Hanover. 

Magendie* recommends the following as one of the modes of 
preparation. Take any quantity of chloride of gold, put it into 

* Formulaire, &c. 



ATTRI OXIDTJM. 97 

a flask of white glass and pour upon it six or seven times its 
weight of boiling ivater, to dissolve the chloride ; then add 
crystallised baryta gradually, until the liquid is no longer acid, 
as shown by a strip of litmus paper. The liquid is then boiled, 
permitted to cool, and filtered. The precipitate is washed several 
times with warm water ; the water of the various washings is 
brought together and evaporated nearly to dryness ; the saline 
mass, when cool, is then dissolved in water, and in this way more 
and more oxide of gold is obtained, which may be added to the 
other. The oxide of gold is now washed with boiling water, 
until the water no longer affords a precipitate on the addition of 
nitrate of silver. It is then washed once or twice with water 
acidulated with nitric acid, to remove the small quantity of 
carbonate of baryta formed during the operation, and which may 
remain mixed with the oxide. These washings are repeated 
with cold water, until the instillation of sulphuric acid occasions 
no longer any white precipitate, which indicates that it is free 
from baryta. The oxide is then dried at a heat of from 167° 
to 190° of Fahrenheit, after which it is kept in a cool and dark 
place in a well-stopped bottle. 

The process recommended by M. Cottereau is the following : 
An excess of magnesia must be boiled with a dilute solution of 
chloride of gold, till the solution loses its colour; the whole is 
then to be filtered, and the precipitate well washed ; the result, 
which is aurate of magnesia, is to be treated with an excess of 
diluted nitric acid, which removes all the magnesia, and leaves 
the oxide in a pure state. This is to be again well washed, and 
dried between sheets of bibulous paper, but without compression 
or exposure to light or heat.* 

In the French " Codex" it is directed to be prepared by boiling 
four parts of calcined magnesia with one part of terchloride of 
gold and forty parts of water. Then wash, first with ivater to 
remove the chloride of magnesium, and afterwards with dilute 
nitric acid to dissolve the excess of magnesia.-f- 

In the condition of a hydrate, the oxide of gold is of a yellow 
colour, but when dried of a blackish violet. It is never entirely 
soluble in chlorohydric acid, always leaving behind a small portion, 
which is reduced to the metallic state during desiccation. Neither 
sulphuric nor nitric acid has any action upon it. 

The oxide of gold has been administered by many physicians, 
and especially by Westring, Niel, Chrestien, and Legrand,J in 
the same diseases as the other preparations. 

* Amer. Journ. of Pharm. 2d series, ii. 110. Philad. 1837. 
fPereira, Elements of Materia Medica, 2d. edit. i. 685. Lond. 1842, or 
Amer. Edit, by Dr. Carson, Philad. 1813. 
X Op. citat. 

9 



9S ATJRI PRJEPARATA. 



XXIX. AURUM METAL'LICUM. 



Synonymes. Metallic Gold. 
French. Or Metal lique. 
German. Metallisches Gold. 

Metallic gold is either administered in the form of the aurum 
limatum, " gold filings" — formed by filing the finest gold with a 
fine toothed file — or in that of the pulvis auri, (Fr. Or divise — 
Germ. Goldpulver,) which is obtained by amalgamating gold 
with quicksilver, and driving off the quicksilver by heat.* Accord- 
ding to Trommsdorff, a very fine gold powder may likewise be 
obtained by precipitating the gold from a dilute solution of the 
metal in nitro-muriatic acid, by means of green sulphate of iron. 
The precipitate, thus formed, when washed and dried, is of a 
brownish colour, but when polished exhibits the most beautiful 
golden splendour.! 

It may also be prepared by rubbing leaf gold with sulphate 
of potassa, sifting and washing with boiling water to remove the 
sulphate.J 

Chrestien and Niel have exhibited metallic gold largely, and 
they affirm successfully ; but, according to Wendt, it has no 
action on the economy. It is not easy, indeed, to conceive, that 
a substance so difficult of oxidation can have much, if any , effect. 
The former gentlemen and Gozzi regard it as the mildest of the 
preparations of gold, but as equally efficacious with the others, 
although more tardy in producing its effects. 

Metallic gold has been administered in the dose of from a 
quarter of a grain to a grain, three or four times a day, in the 
form of powder or pill, — the dose being gradually increased : or 
it has been rubbed daily upon the tongue, in the quantity of from 
one to three grains mixed with starch powder, or the powder of 
lycopodium. Where the condition of the tongue and of the 
interior of the mouth does not admit of this, Niel advises that a 
blister should be applied on the side of the neck, and that the 
denuded surface should be dressed with a mixture of a grain of 
gold amalgamated with mercury, and half a dram of lard; 
gradually augmenting the quantity of gold to two grains. In 
syphilitic ulcers and excoriations, metallic gold is applied exter- 
nally, amalgamated with the proper quantity of mercury, and 

* Jourdan's Pharmacopee Universelle, ii. 215. Paris, 1828. 
f Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimit. S. 58. Stuttgart, 1837. 
% Pereira, Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, 2d edits i. 682, 
Lond. 1842 ; or Amer. edit, by Dr. Carson, Philad. 1843. 



BALLOT A LANATA. 99 

united with unsalted butter, lard, or cerate, in the proportion of 
twelve grains to one ounce. 1 In syphilitic excrescences, frictions 
with gold powder, mixed with the saliva, are said to have been 
serviceable. 

The following formulae are given by Riecke :* — 

R. Auri pulv. gr. vj. 
Amyli. gr. lxvj. 
M. f. pulv. in part. xij. aequales divid. 

A powder to be given four times a day. 

R. Auri pulv. 

Lycopod. aa gr. ij. 
M. f. pulvis. 

A powder to be rubbed once a day upon the tongue. 



XXX. BAL'LOTA LANA'TA. 

Synonvmes. Leonurus Lanata. 
German. Wolliger Wolfs trapp. 

This plant belongs to the Natural Family, Labiatse; Sexual 
System, Didynamia Gymnospermia. It grows exclusively and 
commonly in Siberia, in dry mountainous regions. 

In its native country, it has been long administered as a power- 
ful diuretic, especially in dropsy. Both Gmelin and Pallas refer 
to it in this respect in their travels in Siberia. Within the last 
few years, its use has extended elsewhere ; and it is now fre- 
quently employed in Russia, Germany, and Italy. It is said to 
be often adulterated with leonurus cardiaca, ballota nigra, 
and marrubium ;t and it is important, that the genuine Siberian 
plant should be used, as the observations of Brera have shown 
the cultivated plant to be very powerless. For medicinal pur- 
poses, the whole plant has been employed, with the exception of 
the root. 

The diseases, in which ballota lanata has been administered 

* Die neuern Arzneimit. S. 59. Stuttgart, 1837. 

j- Schmidt's Jahrbuch der in und auslandisch. gesammt. Medicin. B. iv. S. 
275, and Riecke, Op. cit. S. 68. 



100 BALLOTA LANATA. 

abroad — for it has not been employed in this country — are the 
following : — 

1. Dropsy. — Rehmann prescribed it several times with decided 
advantage ; and where organic disease prevented the cure, the 
urinary secretion was always largely augmented by it. The 
chemical condition of the urine was likewise strikingly changed 
during its use : at first, it was whitish, afterwards darker, and 
ultimately almost black or of a deep brown, like the darkest 
beer. At times, according to Rehmann, when the accumulation 
of fluid was pretty well removed, a pain would occur in the 
hypochondres, indicating that its use should be laid aside. 
Schilling, in Werchny-Udinsk, asserts, that he cured several 
cases of dropsy by it. Rupprecht and Muhrbeck administered 
it with the best effects, and Brera* found it extremely service- 
able in hydropic conditions, especially where they had been 
preceded by, or were complicated with, rheumatic or gouty 
affections. Luzzato prescribed it with equal success ; and Hey- 
felder, who gave it according to the prescription of the Russian 
physicians, observed the urine to be of a blackish-yellow hue at 
the commencement, and afterwards of a very dark colour. He 
found, however, that to keep up the diuresis it was requisite to 
combine it with other diuretics, or to change it for other agents. 

2. Rheimiatism and Gout. — In these diseases, ballota is 
administered in Siberia. Brera, as well as his compatriots, Ghi- 
della, Fontebnoni and Luzzato, have tested its efficacy by repeated 
trials. The pains generally soon disappeared under its use, and 
a cure took place without a relapse. 

3. Adiposis. — In a case of this kind, it was exhibited in St. 
Petersburg by Dr. Weisse. The fatness was inordinate, and the 
remedy acted most favourably. It did not, however, occasion 
diuresis, but under its use a hemorrhoidal flux returned, which 
had previously been arrested. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Docoction is the best form for administering the plant ; from 
~ss. to 5J. to 5 viij. of water ; — this portion to be divided into two 
halves, and to be taken in the course of the day. Rehmann boils 
~iss. to §ij. of the coarsely powdered plant in Oij. of water down to 
half; to which he adds, according to circumstances, some diffu- 
sible excitant or a few drops of laudanum. Of this mixture, 
he directs a cupful to be taken morning and evening, gradually 
increasing the dose. 

* Antologia Medica, No. 2. Febbrajo, 1835. 



BARII I0D1DTJM. 101 



XXXI. BA'RII IO'DIDUM. 

Synonymes. Barium Iodaturn, Iodide of Barium. 
German. Iodbaryum. 

In solution, Barytas Hydriodas, Hydras Barii Iodati, Baryta Hydriodica, 

Hydriodate of Baryta. 
German. Iodwasserstoffsaure Schwererde ; Hydriodsaurer Baryt. 

This preparation has been introduced recently. 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

Iodide of barium is obtained by boiling baryta earth in a 
solution of iodide of iron in water, (made by taking one part of 
pure iron filings, and four parts of iodine, pouring upon them 
from six to eight parts of water, agitating frequently and apply- 
ing warmth gently until the fluid appears clear and almost 
colourless,) or, what is cheaper, by boiling the solution of iodide 
of iron with carbonate of baryta, which must be added in small 
portions as long as there is any effervescence. 

The fluid obtained by either process, after filtering, must be 
clear and neutral, and yield no bluish or blue precipitate with 
the ferrocyanuret of potassium ; should it yield a precipitate, the 
decomposition of the salt of iron is incomplete. Should the solu- 
tion, formed in the first manner, have an alkaline reaction, the 
excess of baryta must be removed by exposing the mixture to 
the air, whereby it becomes converted into a carbonate, and 
falls to the bottom. The solution is then evaporated until a 
pellicle forms, the heat being gentle ; the crystals are placed 
quickly between printing paper, and kept in a well-stopped 
glass vessel. They form white radiated plates, which easily 
deliquesce in the air, and on that account cannot be prescribed 
in the form of powder, but may be dissolved in some aromatic 
water. 



EFFECTS ON TIIE ECONOMY. 

Jahn instituted several experiments with iodide of barium, 
on plants, on animals, and on man in a state of health and 
disease. In considerable doses, it acts as a poison on the or- 
ganism, and as one of the acrid class. Administered in very 
small doses, and with great circumspection, he found it to be 



102 BERBERINA. 

serviceable in scrophulous and similar morbid conditions, and 
as an alterative in morbid growths, hypertrophy, chronic inflam- 
mation, &c, in which conditions it proved equally useful with 
chloride of barium, mercury, or iodine.* Jahn's observations 
did not, however, lead him to speak positively regarding its ad- 
vantages or defects; and he adds the caution — " Caute, per 
Deos, incede, latet ignis sub cinere doloso." Jahn's observations 
were published in 1830, and, according to Riecke, he has been 
since silent on the subject. Rothamel administered the iodide in 
a desperate case of scrophula, occurring in a patient twenty-one 
years of age, with great success. He began with one-eighth of 
a grain three times a day, and increased the dose gradually 
during a protracted administration of the article, until three grains 
were taken four times daily. 

Biett has administered it frequently in cases of scrophulous 
swellings, and at times externally, according to the following 
form : — 

Unguentum barii iodid i. 

Ointment of iodide of barium. 

R. Barii iodid. gr. iv. 

Adipis, 5J. M. fiat unguentum. 



XXXII. BERBERFNA. 

Synonymes. Berberinum, Berberine, Berberin. 
German. Berberin. 

The inner bark of Berberis vulgaris is of a yellow colour, and 
a bitterish, somewhat astringent, taste. It is cathartic, and was 
formerly used in jaundice; originally, perhaps, in consequence 
of the "signature" of the yellow colour.t In more modern times, 
it has been again recommended in the same disease on the faith 
of experiments.^ 

The bitter principle of the root was discovered a few years ago 
by Buchner and Herberger, and its properties have been investi- 
gated by Brandes.§ Buchner first recommended, at a meeting 
of the German Association of Naturalists and Physicians in the 
year 1834, that it should be received into the Materia Medica; 
but hitherto few experiments have been made with it. 

* Riecke, Op. cit. S. 71. 

f Ray's Historia Plant, ii. 605. 

X Lond. Med. Repos., new series, i. 38. 

§ Archiv. der Apotheker Vereins, ii. 29. 



BERBERINA. 103 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 



An alcoholic extract of the root of berberis vulgaris is pre- 
pared, to which water is added. This throws down a pulveru- 
lent brown substance ; the fluid is poured off; and the substance 
dried ; it is then treated with alcohol, which takes up the ber- 
berin, leaving a small portion undissolved. By evaporating the 
alcohol, the berberin remains.* 

Thus prepared, berberin resembles an extract : it is of a 
brownish-yellow colour, translucent, and smells like the root; 
its taste is a pure bitter, and it becomes soft in the air. Buchnert 
succeeded in obtaining the bitter principle pure, and in a crystal- 
line form. Its reaction is neither alkaline nor acid ; it is soluble 
in alcohol and water, but not so readily in the latter as in the 
former. When crystallised, it requires 600 parts of water for its 
solution ; whilst in alcohol, at a medium temperature, it is soluble 
in 100 parts. It approximates the alkaloids in its nature, as with 
certain acids it forms crystallisable compounds. It is not soluble 
in ether. The brownish-yellow solution formed by it is turned 
of a reddish-brown by alkalies, like the infusion of rhubarb, and 
acids restore the colour. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

According to Buchner, no injurious consequences are to be 
apprehended from the administration of berberin as a therapeu- 
tical agent : of this he had an opportunity of satisfying himself 
both on his own person and on others. When labouring under 
indigestion, he took it with the best effects ; not only was the 
dyspepsia removed, but also a yellow hue of the skin which had 
previously existed. He recommends it, therefore, as an excel- 
lent stomachic, especially when there is disturbance of the func- 
tions of the liver. In doses of two, five or ten grains, it only 
aids the appetite, but in larger doses — fifteen to twenty grains 
— it acts upon the bowels without inducing tormina, and there- 
fore not as a drastic. 

Within the last few years, Koch has published some observa- 
tions on the use of the berberin. He treated several cases with 
it as prepared by Buchner himself, when he found all his results 
confirmed, and that it merited a high rank amongst bitter agents. 

• Riecke, Op. cit. S. 442. 

t Journal de Pharmacie, xxi. 309, and Philadelphia Journal of Pharmacy, 
vii. 328. Philadelphia, 1835. 



104 BIGNONIA CATALPA. 



He gives two cases of marked disturbance of the digestive func- 
tion, in which the berberin afforded essential service. 



XXXIII. BIGNONIA CATALTA. 

Synonymes. Catalpa, Catalpa Cordifolia, C. Arborescens, C. Arborea, 
Catalpa or Catawba Tree. 

Bignonia Catalpa belongs to the Natural Family, Bignonia- 
ceae ; Sexual System, Didynamia Angiospermia. It is a tree 
well known in this country, but is not applied to any medicinal 
use. 

According to Kampfer and Thunberg, the Japanese physicians 
consider the pods (Siliquse) to be a powerful remedy in different 
asthmatic affections. This gave occasion to several Neapolitan 
physicians — and especially to Professor Anton ucci — to institute 
experiments in reference to its virtues, and their report was de- 
cidedly favourable. Brera also extols it in asthma. 

As to the precise mode in which it acts, we have no exact in- 
formation. Dierbach and Richter, according to Riecke,* place 
it amongst the Acria ; whilst, according to the analysis of Grosso,t 
it seems more probable that itsactive principle is of a fatty nature, 
resembling the butter of the cacao. It is extremely probable, 
that it possesses no other virtues than those of a simple demul- 
cent, and that the properties ascribed to it have been mainly, 
if not wholly, derived from the substances associated with it. 
Brera, for example, administered it with the following addi- 
tions :% — 

R. Siliquar. catalp. §ss. 

Aquae fontan. q. s. ad colatur. §viij. 



Adde 



Or 



Oxymel. scillse, 5jss. 

R. Siliquar. catalp. §ss. 
Senegee rad. 5'j« 
Aqure fontan. q. s. ad colatur. 3 V '»J- 



Adde 



Oxymel. scilla?, $i. 
To be taken by little and little. 



* Op. cit. S. 72. 

f Gazette Medicale de Paris, 1834, p. 8. 

% Ricettario Clinico, Pad. 1825. 



BOLETUS LARICIS. 105 



XXXIV. BOLETUS LA'RICIS. 



Synontmes. Boletus purgans, B. albus, Agaricus albus, Fungus Laricis, 

Polyporus officinalis, Fungus of the Larch, White Agaric. 
French. Agaric blanc. 
German. Lerschenschwamm. 



This fungus grows on the stem and larger branches of the 
larch. Formerly, it was administered as a cathartic, but in this 
respect it has become obsolete. Still, it is retained in many phar- 
macopoeias; for example, in those of Amsterdam, Bavaria, Bruns- 
wick, Paris, Ferrara, Geneva, Hamburg, Hanover, Oldenburg, 
Poland, Prussia, Saxony, Sweden, Wirtemberg, and Wurzburg. 
Recently, it has been administered frequently in the colliquative 
sweats of phthisis. Barbut, of Nismes, made many trials with 
it,* which were favourable ; and the experience of Andral was 
similar.! More recently, however, he has expressed the opi- 
nion, that no great advantage has been derived from it.t 

By several of the German physicians equally advantageous 
results have been obtained — as by Toel and Trautzsch — so 
that, according to Riecke§ it deserves, perhaps, to be better 
known and investigated. Recently, Kopp has added his testi- 
mony in its favour.|| 

Formerly, as a cathartic, half a dram to a dram of the pow- 
dered boletus was given. In profuse diaphoresis it is adminis- 
tered in doses of from two to six grains. This dose, repeated 
for a few evenings, according to Barbut, arrests the sweating, 
which, Riecke thinks, is effected through its revellent excitation 
of the abdominal nerves ; for which reasons he suggests, that the 
propriety of the union of opiates with it, to prevent its purgative 
effect, may be questionable. 

Kopp gives it in the dose of three grains, morning, noon, and 
night. If it acts upon the bowels, which is rarely the case, the 
dose must be diminished. 



* Burdacli, in Journal der Praktisch. Heilkund. von Hufeland, Mar. 1830. 

•j- Journal dc I'liarmacie, vol. xx. 

% Cours de Pathologic Interne, &c, recueilliet re'dige' par A. Latour, p. 157. 
Edit, dc Bruxelles, 1837. 

§ Op. cit. S. 73. 

|| Dcnkwiirdigk. in der arztlich. Praxis. Frankf. 1836, S. 344, cited by 
Riecke. 



106 BRAYERA ANTHELMINTIC A. 

Pilnlae boleti laricis cum opio. 

Pills of white agaric and opium. 

R. Bolet. laricis, gr. xv. 

Extract, opii, gr. iiss. M. 
Divide in pil. vj. 

One or two at bed-time in the colliquative sweats of phthisis. 

Rayer* 



XXXV. BRAYERA ANTHELMINTIC A. 

This plant is a native of Abyssinia, and belongs to Nat. Ord. 
Rosacese Sanguisorbeas (Decandolle), Sex. Syst. Icosandria 
Digynia. It was first taken from Abyssinia to Europe by Dr. 
Brayer, from whom it received its name. The flowers are the 
parts used in medicine, and they yield, on examination, an ex- 
tractive matter, containing tannic acid, which is most readily 
taken up by hot water ; and consequently, the decoction is the 
best preparation. 

In Abyssinia, the flowers of brayera are said to have been 
employed with the greatest success in tapeworm, but in Europe, 
no experiments had been made with them until Dr. Plieninger, 
having become acquainted with a missionary from Abyssinia, 
and heard his description of their wonderful effects, obtained 
some of them from him,f which he submitted to his friend, Dr. 
Kurr, who detected, on examination, the principles above men- 
tioned. 

With the rest of the flowers, Dr. Plieninger made trial in two 
cases. He took a handful of the blossoms, about Sj. or siss. and 
boiled them in 3xvi. of water down to one half, adding to the 
strained liquor as much honey as counteracted, in some measure, 
the objectionable taste. This decoction was taken by a delicate 
woman, about 30 years of age, who had previously taken the 
extractum filicis maris in pilular form, according to Peschier's 
plan, without success. In the course of the day, she passed nu- 
merous fragments of taenia, mixed with mucous discharges, 
without experiencing any striking inconvenience from the remedy. 
From this time, she remained free from the parasite. 

A robust man, 38 years of age, who had taken large quantities 

* A. Bouchardat, Annuairede Therapeutique, p. 8. Paris, 1842. 
t Riecke, Op. cit. S. 73. 



BROMINUM. 107 

of tartrate of antimony and potassa in consequence of violent 
inflammation of the lungs, — whilst he lay sick of this disease, 
discharged a great many portions of tsenia, without having pre- 
viously experienced any inconvenience from the presence of the 
entozoon. In July, 1834, he took the same decoction. Since 
then, he has had no appearance of the taenia in his evacuations. 
Although but few cases have occurred in which brayera 
has been administered in European practice, Dr. Plieninger 
considers, that it is a valuable addition to the materia medica, 
inasmuch as it can be administered to delicate persons and chil- 
dren, without violence being done to the whole organism, as is 
the case with many of the true anthelmintics. The article has 
not been imported in sufficient quantities into Europe to admit 
of the necessary trials for fully testing its efficacy. In this coun- 
try — so far as the author knows — it has not yet been seen. 



XXXVI. BROMINUM. 

Synonymes. Bromium, Brominium, Bromineum, Muride, Bromine. 
French. Brome. 
German. Brom. 

This elementary substance was discovered in 1826, by Balard, 
of Montpellier. In its chemical properties it is allied to chlorine 
and iodine ; — to the former, according to a recent writer,* more 
than to the latter. Balard detected it whilst occupied in some in- 
vestigations on the water of saltponds, and gave it the name bro- 
mine — from 0^fAo;, "a stench or smell" — on account of its 
disagreeable odour. It is met with chiefly in sea water, and in 
certain animal and vegetable substances that live therein. It 
has likewise been found in many mineral waters, of this and 
other countries, and especially in salt springs — as in those of 
Salina, by Professor Silliman, and of Kenawha by Professor 
Emmet. 

It is in the secondary list in the Pharmacopoeia of the United 
States (1842). 

METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Balard's mode of preparing bromine consists in passing a cur- 
rent of chlorine through bittern, after which ether is added, and 
the two liquids are strongly agitated. The chlorine decomposes 

* Dr. Glover, Edin. Med. and Surg. Journ., July, 1842. 



108 BROMINUM. 

the bromide of magnesium — the form in which bromine exists 
in the bittern — and converts the bromide into a chloride of 
magnesia, setting the bromine free. The ether dissolves the 
evolved bromine, the mixture assuming a hyacinth-red colour. 
The ethereal solution is agitated with caustic potassa, by which 
bromide of potassium and bromate of potassa are generated ; the 
ether becoming colourless and pure, and fit to be used for dis- 
solving fresh portions of bromine. When a sufficient quantity 
of the bromide has been obtained, it is mixed in a retort with 
peroxide of manganese, and acted on by dilute sulphuric acid, 
by which the bromine is given off. The sulphuric acid sets free 
hydrobromic acid, which, at the moment of its disengagement, 
is deprived of its hydrogen by the oxygen of the peroxide of 
manganese, and is thereby converted into bromine. The bro- 
mine passes over in reddish vapours, and is made to condense 
under water, contained in an appropriate receiver. 

M. Bussy* prefers the following form. The mother waters 
oikelp (Soude de Varecq), after iodine has been precipitated 
from them by means of chlorine, contain bromine in the state of 
a metallic bromide, when care is taken to add no more chlorine 
than is required to precipitate all the iodine. To 1250 parts of 
these mother waters, 32 parts of peroxide of manganese'm pow- 
der, and 24 of common sulphuric acid at 66° are added. The 
mixture is then put into a tubulated glass retort, to which a 
tubulated receiver is adapted, and to the latter a tube, which 
dips into a flask. The retort and receiver, as well as the tube, 
must be ground so as to fit accurately without lutes or corks, 
which would be destroyed by the chloride. 

Everything being arranged, the retort is heated until the liquid 
is made to boil, when the bromine condenses in the receiver 
under the form of red oily strire with a small quantity of water. 
The operation must be arrested when the red vapours cease to 
be produced. By slightly heating the receiver, without dis- 
mounting the apparatus, the bromine may be made to pass over 
into the flask, in which it will condense on cooling. 

The mother waters used in this preparation should not be re- 
jected, until it is evident, on the addition of a fresh quantity of 
sulphuric acid and oxide of manganese, that they contain no 
more bromine. 

Bromine, at the ordinary temperature, is a fluid of a blackish- 
red colour, when regarded in quantities, — but of a hyacinth-red 
when placed in a thin layer between the eye and the light. Its 
smell is strong and disagreeable, resembling that of chlorine. Its 
taste is strong. It colours the skin yellow — the colour gradu- 
ally disappearing of itself. Its specific gravity is 2.966. It is 

* Journal de Pharmacie, Janvier, 1837. 



BROMINUM. 109 

readily set free ; and, when volatilised, assumes the form of dark 
red vapours. It boils at 117°; is sparingly soluble in water, 
and the solution is of a yellow colour. It is more soluble in 
alcohol, and still more so in ether. In its chemical relations 
with other bodies, bromine, as before observed, resembles 
chlorine and iodine ; but chlorine appears to have more power, 
and iodine less, than bromine, as bromine is separated from all 
its combinations by chlorine, whilst it decomposes the compounds 
of iodine, and assumes the place of the latter. It forms acids 
both with oxygen and hydrogen. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

Experiments have been instituted to discover the influence of 
bromine on the animal economy, and especially by Barthez.* 
In this respect, also, bromine resembles iodine, and, like it, be- 
longs to the class of irritant poisons. Twelve grains of bromine, 
dissolved in water, and injected into the jugular vein of a dog, 
destroyed it almost instantaneously. Cough ensued ; the respi- 
ration and circulation were accelerated ; the pupils dilated ; the 
male organ was erect ; and these signs were followed by invo- 
luntary discharge of the excrement, and at times stiffness of the 
upper and lower extremities. On dissection, Barthez found the 
cavities of the heart full of coagulated blood, and the lungs 
gorged with the same fluid ; in the vense cavse there were dark 
coagula ; and, in the stomach and intestines, small, bloody, 
blackish cylinders, similar to sticks of lunar caustic. 

The same quantity introduced into the stomach caused death 
in three or four days, when the oesophagus was tied ; when, 
however, the animal was able to vomit, fifty to sixty drops were 
requisite. The poison acts less intensely when it is given in 
conjunction with aliment ; it produces coughing, excitement, 
nausea and vomiting : constant sucking of the tongue was no- 
ticed, with frequently extraordinary restlessness and anxiety, 
and debility gradually augmenting until death. On opening the 
body the stomach has been found contracted ; the mucous mem- 
brane wrinkled, at times softened, and frequently the seat of 
roundish ulcerations of an ashy-green colour. Near the pylorus, 
Barthez found black spots, which could be readily scraped off 
with the back of the scalpel, and left gangrenous ulcers exposed. 
Barthez recommends magnesia as an antidote to bromine, but 
he rests his recommendation on a single observation only. 
Butzke obtained similar results from his experiments. In one 

* De 1'Action du Brome, &c. (These) Paris, 1828. See, also, Fournet, in 
Bulletin General de Th^rapeutique, Fevrier, 1838. 
10 



110 BROMINUM. 

case, only, in which a dog died a few hours after a dose of three 
drams of bromine, he found the intestines unchanged, and death 
could only be ascribed to the paralysing influence of the poison 
on the nervous system.* 

Two series of effects, according to Dr. Glover, are produced 
by the introduction of bromine in large doses into the stomach : 
one arising from volatilized bromine getting into the fauces and 
air-passages ; and the other from its corrosive and irritant action 
on the stomach and intestines. Another series, he conceives, 
may be due to its entrance into the circulation. 

It appears to be more irritant when diluted than when pure. 

The vapours of bromine do not seem to exert any organic 
influence on the workmen who prepare it.t 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

Pourche first used both pure bromine and hydrobromate of 
potassa for therapeutical purposes. He found it very efficacious 
in scrophula, especially in dispersing strumous sivellings, both 
when given internally and applied externally.^ 

In a case of very large goitre, it was highly serviceable. Ac- 
cording to Pourche's observation, it excited heat in the face, 
headach, dryness of the throat, &c, which, however, soon disap- 
peared. Pourche gave bromine internally, diluted with forty 
parts of distilled water, beginning with five or six drops of this 
mixture, and gradually raising the dose. It has also been added 
in a dilute state to lotions and cataplasms. The remedy is not, 
however, much used. 

Magendie frequently administered bromine, but more com- 
monly some of its preparations. He prescribed it in cases in 
which iodine did not appear to exert the proper efficacy, or where 
the patient had become accustomed to its use. The chief dis- 
eases in which he used it were scrophula, amenorrhcea, and hy- 
pertrophy of the ventricles of the heart. 

More recently, it has been administered by M. Fournet,§ in 
cases of chronic arthritis, both internally and externally ; but 
his facts, as he himself remarks, were too few to enable him to 
deduce any general conclusions as to the therapeutical value of 
the remedy in those affections. He always gave it in a pure 
state, in the form of mixture, with a solution of gum : externally, 
it was applied in the form of alcoholic mixture to the affected 
joints. 

* Christison on Poisons, 3d edit. p. 186. 

f A. Chevallier, Annales d'Hygiene Publ. &c. Avril, 1842. 

X Bulletin General de Therapeutique, No. 14. Juillet 30, 1837. 

§ Ibid. Fevrier, 1838. 



BRUCIA. Ill 

The dose was at first two drops in four ounces of the vehicle ; 
and it was gradually increased by two drops at a time, until as 
much as sixty drops were given in the twenty-four hours. 

The alcoholic mixture, used by M. Fournet as an external 
application, consisted, at the commencement, of ten drops of 
bromine to an ounce of alcohol: this was augmented daily by 
five drops until it reached one hundred and twenty drops. 

Dr. Glover* considers the solution of bromine in water an 
elegant and useful application in scrophulous, syphilitic, and 
specific ulcers, as well as in eczematous eruptions. He gives a 
case of obstinate tuberculous eruption, where an ointment of 
bromine and hydrobromate of potassa, eight minims of bromine, 
and half a dram of the hydrobromate to an ounce of lard, effected 
a cure ; and, also, a case of sarcomatous tumour of the knee 
removed by a similar but stronger ointment. 

Dr. Glover considers, that, physiologically, bromine and the 
bromides are nearer the group of chlorine and the chlorides, than 
that of iodine and the iodides. He maintains, that the chemical 
and physiological relations are alike, and that the same is true 
of the medicinal properties.! 

The preparations of bromine are described in other parts of 
this volume. 



XXXVII. BRU'CIA. 

Synonymes. Brucina, Brucinum, Brucium, Vomicina, Brucine. 

This alkaloid was discovered by Pelletier and Caventou, in 
1819, in the bark of the false angustura (Brucea antidysente- 
rica). It is found also in small quantities in nux vomica, and 
in St. Ignatius's bean. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

An alcoholic extract of false angustura bark is prepared, 
which is dissolved in a large quantity of cold water, and filtered, 
in order to separate the fatty matter. The colouring matter is 
precipitated by acetate of lead, the excess of this is thrown down 
by sulphuretted hydrogen gas, and the brucia by an alkaline 
base, for which purpose magnesia may be employed. The pre- 

♦ Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journal, Oct. 1842. 

f Ibid., and Lond. and Edinb. Monthly Journal of Med. Science, Nov. 
1842, p. 1011. 



112 BRUCIA. 

cipitate from the magnesia is then washed, dried, and treated 
with alcohol, which lays hold of the brucia ; this is obtained by- 
evaporation. As brucia is somewhat soluble, the precipitate 
ought not to be washed too much. Brucia, thus obtained, is 
coloured, but it may be procured colourless by forming an oxa- 
late of brucia, and treating it with a mixture of equal parts of 
alcohol and ether. The oxalate is thus deprived of its colouring 
matter ; after which it is decomposed by magnesia : brucia is 
thus obtained wholly pure and devoid of colour. 

Pure brucia is of a white colour, and forms regular crystals in 
the form of oblique prisms, having a base representing a paral- 
lelogram ; it has a pearly lustre, tastes very bitter, and is soluble 
in 500 parts of boiling water, and in 850 parts of cold. In alco- 
hol it dissolves readily, from which solution it is obtained in the 
crystalline form. When exposed to the influence of heat, it melts 
at a temperature very little above that of boiling water. At a 
higher temperature, it is decomposed, and affords the same pro- 
ducts as vegetable substances that do not contain azote. With 
the acids, brucia forms neutral salts, which differ from the salts 
of strychnia. The sulphate of brucia crystallises in very fine 
needles, and resembles the sulphate of morphia, but it has a 
much more bitter taste. Nitrate of brucia does not crystallise, 
which constitutes an essential difference between brucia and 
strychnia. With an excess of nitric acid, the salt has a beautiful 
pearly {nacre) aspect. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Brucia acts energetically on the animal economy in the same 
manner as false angustura, but much more strongly. It is simi- 
lar, in its operation, to strychnia, but is considered to be weaker 
in the proportion of one to ten, according to Pelletier ; one to 
twelve, according to Magendie ;* and one to twenty-four, ac- 
cording to Andral.t It requires four grains to kill a rabbit, 
whilst half a grain of strychnia is sufficient. A tolerably strong 
dog, to which three grains of brucia had been given, was af- 
fected with symptoms resembling tetanus, but did not die. 

Pelletier is of opinion that brucia, or rather the alcoholic ex- 
tract of false angustura, might be substituted in practice for the 
extract of nux vomica ; its operation is nearly the same, whilst 
there is no danger of its acting too violently. 

Andral has frequently prescribed brucia, and his deductions 
are, that it is far more under our control than strychnia. Like 

* Formulaire, &c. des Nouveaux Medicamens, &c. 

f Journal de Physiologie de Magendie, iii. 267, Juillet, 1823. 



113 



strychnia, it has been given in eases of paralysis with varying 
success. It would appear to have acted most beneficially in 
that resulting from lead poisoning. Magendie administered it 
with success in two cases of atrophy, one of the leg, and the 
other of the arm. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Brucia, according to Magendie, may be given either in pills 
or tincture, gradually augmenting the dose. Andral raised it 
from half a grain to five grains. Magendie recommends, that the 
alkaloid should always be that obtained from false angustura ; 
the brucia of nux vomica being mixed with a portion of strych- 
nia, which adds to its activity, and renders it difficult to de- 
termine the dose. The following formulae are recommended 
by him : — 

Pilulse brucise. 

Pills of brucia. 

R. Bruciae pur. gr. xij. 

Confect. rosas, 3ss. M. exactiss. et fiant pilulae xxiv. 

One pill to be begun with — twice a day. 

Tinctura bruciae. 

Tincture of brucia. 

(French, Alcool de Brucine.) 

B.. Alcohol (36° Areom., s. g. 847), f.gj. 
Brucise, gr. xviij. M. 

Of this tincture, from six to twenty-four drops may be given, 
in the form of mixture, in any vehicle. 

Mistura brucia;. 
Mixture of brucia. 

(Polio Slimulans.) 

B. Brucia.', gr. vi. 

Af|uto destillat. f.3iv. 
Sacchar. 3'j> M. 

D ose . — a table-spoonful night and morning. Magendie. 

10* 



114 CAINCiE RADIX. 



XXXVIII. CAIN'C^E RADIX. 

Synonymes. Rad. Chiococca, R. Cainanae, R. Caninana?, R. Cahincffi, R. 

Kahincaj, R. Serpentarise Braziliensis ; Cainca Root. 
Portuguese. Raiz Crusadinha, R. Preta. 
German. Caincawurzel. 

The plant, which furnishes the root introduced into Europe of 
late years, and which has since become known as a remedial 
agent, is Chiococca anguifuga, of the Family Rubiaceas, Sexual 
System, Pentandria JMonogynia.* The shrub grows wild in 
the forest of Brazil, especially in the province of Minas Geraes, 
and the root is used there against the bites of serpents. This 
root is of the thickness of the finger, round, and knotty ; the 
surface smooth or irregularly wrinkled ; the wood tough and of 
a whitish colour ; the smell disagreeable, especially that of the 
fresh root ; and the taste at first like that of coffee, but after- 
wards nauseous and pungent. The bark of the root alone pos- 
sesses efficacy, the woody portion having no action. The bark 
separates readily from the wood ; it is thicker on the root itself 
than on its branches ; and, on the outside, is of an amber, or 
brownish yellow green colour ; yellower and brighter on the 
youngest parts ; the epidermis is not easily separated. Accord- 
ing to the chemical investigations of Pelletier and Caventou,f 
the following are found to be the constituents of the bark : — 
1. A bitter principle, crystallisable in small, white, silky, shining 
needles; inodorous, and very soluble in hot alcohol, which com- 
municates to the whole plant a degree of astringent bitterness, 
and at the same time has an acid reaction on litmus paper. In 
order to separate this acid, which has been termed by those che- 
mists Acidum cahincicum, in a pure state, the alcoholic extract 
of the root must be dissolved in water, filtered, and precipitated 
by lime, until the fluid loses all bitterness ; the precipitate is then 
decomposed by oxalic acid, and boiling alcohol ; or the acetic, 
or muriatic acid may be dropped into an aqueous decoction of 
the bark of the root, and, in the course of a few days, the acidum 
cahincicum will separate in the form of small crystals. With 
cahincic acid, prepared in this way, however, some colouring 
matter is still united. 2. A fatty, green, nauseous smelling sub- 
stance, which communicates to the plant its smell. 3. Yellow 
colouring matter; and 4. A viscid colouring matter. J 

* Art. Chiococca, in Encyclopad. Worterb. vii. 521. Berl. 1831, and Von 
Martius, Spec. Mat. Med. Brasil, i. 18. 

{ Journal General de Medecine, Mai, 1830, and Phil. Journ. of Pharmacy, 
iii. 165. Philad. 1831. 

% Journal de Pharmacie, xvi. 465. 



CAINCffl RADIX. H5 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The effect of cainca root seems to be especially exerted on the 
digestive and urinary organs. It occasions watery evacuations, 
and diuresis. From the experiments, however, of Albers,* 
made on a great number of dropsical patients, in the Charite at 
Berlin, he was induced to deny its diuretic powers, and to place 
it amongst the drastic purgatives, by the side of helleborus niger. 
Wolff was of the same opinion. According to Von Langsdorff,! 
it is a highly efficacious emmenagogue, possessing also — to use 
his own language — considerable resolvent virtues, and hence 
employed in dropsies, that are connected with obstructions in 
the abdomen. Riecke,i asserts, that he had occasion to employ 
it in two cases of ascites complicated with induration of the 
liver. He had no expectation of effecting a radical cure, but it 
afforded no palliation ; diuresis was not excited, whilst nausea, 
colic, and diarrhoea supervened, so that he discontinued it : he 
gave it in decoction. Others have observed the same inconve- 
nience from its use, or have found it wholly ineffectual ; for ex- 
ample, B. Heyfelder, Reinhardt, Bartels,§ and others. Riecke 
suggests the possibility, in these cases, of adulteration of the 
drug. On the other hand, cainca has been highly extolled by 
Frangois, Ribes, Wagner, Solieer, Lowenstein,|| &c, but particu- 
larly by Von Langsdorff. 

The main diseases in which cainca is recommended, are, 
1. Dropsies, in which many favourable trials have been made 
by Von Langsdorff, Spitta,1T Guddoy, Engler, Frangois, Wagner, 
Solieer, Robredo,** &c. 2. Intestinal worms, against which it 
appears to act like other drastics. 3. Obstructed menstruation : 
on this subject, however, farther trials are needed. When it 
operates as an emmenagogue it is probably altogether like 
cathartics that act more especially on the lower part of the 
bowels, that is, by contiguous sympathy. 4. M. Francois has 
recommended it highly in catarrhus vesicae, but the experience 
of others has not confirmed this.tt It may be mentioned, that in 
its native country it is used for rheumatic pains ; in a peculiar 

* Medicin. Zeitung. No. iv. Sept. 1832. 

f Hecker's Litter. Annal. B. iv. S. 395, and Rust's Repertorium, B. xiv. 
S. 458. 

\ Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. S. 84. Stuttgart, 1837. 

§ Grafe und Walther's Journal der Chirurgie, u. s. w. xxiv. S. 470. Ber- 
lin, 1836. 

|| De radice Cainca ejusque in morbis hydropicis virtute. Berol. 1828. 

•[[ Hecker's Litterar. Annal. iv. 396. 

♦♦Journal de la Academia do Medicina de Megico. Oct. 1836, and Brit, 
and For. Med. Review, p. 562, Apl. 1838. 

ft Bulletin General de Therapeutique, No. 13, Juillet, 1837. 



116 CAINCA RADIX. 

kind of pica experienced by the negroes of South America ; and, 
as already remarked, against the bites of serpents. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Cainca is given in various forms — powder, infusion, and 
decoction ; and, besides these, a tincture and an extract 
have been made of it. A syrup and a wine have also been re- 
commended. To form the latter, one ounce of the powdered 
root is infused in a pint of ivine ; the tincture is made with one 
part of the root and eight parts of alcohol at 20°. The alco- 
holic extract is considered to be the most uniform in strength, 
and has, therefore, been preferred by many. The syrup is 
formed by dissolving 5iiss. of the extract in a little alcohol, 
mixing this with a pint of hot simple syrup, and allowing it to 
boil for some time, in order that the alcohol may evaporate. 
The dose of the powder is from di. to 3SS. in the twenty-four 
hours. It appears, however, to be the most objectionable form, 
and to give rise to unfavourable symptoms more frequently than 
the others. Opinions vary as to whether the infusion or the 
decoction should be preferred. According to Caventou and 
Pelletier, boiling extracts very well the efficacious parts of the 
root, and there are cases in which the decoction has rendered 
essential service after the infusion had been administered without 
success. Of the decoction, from f.3j. to f.3uj. are given in the day. 
Of the extract, the dose, in the twenty-four hours, is from twenty 
to thirty grains; of the tincture f.3j. to f^ij.* 

The decoction, used by Spitta and others, was made as fol- 
lows : 

Decoctum radicis caincae. 
Decoction of cainca root. 

R. Rad. caincee, Jij- 
Coque cum aquae Oiss. ad dimidiam partem, et cola. 
Dose. — A table-spoonful three times a day. 

Von Langsdorff.\ 

By others, the following form has been employed: 
R. Rad. cainc. 5J. 
Aquae, Oij. 
Coque ad dimidiam partem et cola. 
Dose. — Two table-spoonfuls three or four times a day. 

Engler. 

* Journal de Chimie Medicale, Mai, 239-242. Paris, 1827. 
t Hufeland und Osann's Journ. B. lxii. St. 2. 



CALENDULA OFFICINALIS. 117 

Dr. John H. Griscom,* of New York, considers there is a re- 
markable analogy between cainca and apocynum cannabinum. 

The Acidum cahincicum, described above, is said to possess 
tonic, cathartic and diuretic powers, and has been used success- 
fully in some cases by Frangois, in the dose of six grains gradu- 
ally increased to fifteen. 



XXXIX. CALEN'DULA OFFICINALIS. 



Synonymes. Calendula Sativa, Caltha Sativa, Verrucaria, Chrysanthemum, 

Sponsa Solis, Single Mangold, Garden Marigold. 
French. Souci, S. Ordinaire. 
German. Ringelblume. 

This plant belongs to Family Synanthereas, Sexual System, 
Syngenesia Necessaria. It is much cultivated in the gardens of 
southern Europe more especially, and grows wild there. The 
whole plant has a feeble aromatic smell, which is not, however, 
unpleasant. The taste is bitter and somewhat pungent. It was 
examined chemically by Geiger and Stoltze,t who found in it a 
peculiar glutinous matter, readily soluble in alcohol, insoluble 
in ether, and in ethereal or volatile oils, and but little soluble in 
water : to this they gave the name calendulin. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The term officinalis indicates, that the calendula was formerly 
received into the lists of the Materia Medica as an " officinal ;" 
but it had become entirely obsolete when Westring,J a Swedish 
physician, in 1817, recalled attention to it. He recommended it 
particularly in cases of cancer of the breast and uterus, having 
noticed its good effects by accident. Visiting an aged female, 
who had suffered, for a long time, under an extremely painful 



* Amer. Journal of the Medical Sciences, for May, 1833, p. 55. 
f Berlin. .Tahrb. d. Pharmac. li. xxi. S. 282. 

% Erfahrung iiber die Heilung der Krebsgeschwiire, u. s. w. Translated 
from the Swedish into German by K. Sprengel. Hal. 1817. 



IIS CALENDULA OFFICINALIS. 

induration of one mamma, he found she was able to allay the 
burning pain by the application of the fresh plant. This induced 
him to try it in several cases of cancer, and from the results he 
was led to infer, that it is perhaps the best agent that can be 
employed in that frightful malady. He never, however, em- 
ployed it alone, but associated with it other active remedies, so 
that but little attention was paid to his recommendation; — a 
great portion of the efficacy of the agents employed, being — it 
was thought probable — ascribable to the associated articles. 

Some time after Westring's publication, the remedy was used 
by others, when his observations were confirmed. Rudolph* 
employed it with advantage internally, in a case of induration 
of the mammse in a young female ; but the acetate of iron was 
at the same time applied externally in solution. Fehrt found it 
highly useful not only in incipient, but in advanced scirrhus. 
Stein praises it in cancer of the integuments (hautkrebs). He 
forms the expressed juice of the young plant and flowers into an 
ointment with fresh butter, and applies it once or twice a day 
by means of lint, having previously washed the ulcers with a 
decoction of the plant. Internally, the calendula is prescribed 
in the form of decoction, made with milk or water, or of a mel- 
lago prepared from the fresh juice, dissolved in an aromatic 
water ; or made into pills. When the salve is applied, a sense 
of burning arises, which speedily becomes absolute pain. This 
soon, however, abates ; and almost wholly disappears ; and if it 
be too violent, more butter may be added ; the ichorous discharge 
becomes improved ; the offensive odour corrected, and in from 
fourteen to twenty-one days, the ulcer is converted into one of a 
benign and readily cicatrisable character. 

Rust, also, frequently administered the extractum calendulas 
in cancerous ulcers and as a discutient in chronic indurations, 
in combination, however, with other efficacious agents. Schnei- 
der affirms, that he prescribed the extract with the best effects 
in induration of the stomach, and in tumefaction and decided 
induration of the glands and uterus. A decoction of the flow- 
ers and plant, he employed in cancer of the uterus, and found it 
an excellent soothing, and discutient agent. Muhrbeckf used 
the extract with eminent success in chronic vomiting ; Carter§ 

* Hufeland und Osann's Jour, der prakt. Heilk. B. Iviii. St. 1. S. 119. 

f Verhandlungen der verein. arztlich. Gesellschaft. der Schweiz. Jahrg. 
1831, and Dierbach, in Heidelberger Annalen, B. x. H. 4. S. 501. Heidel- 
berg, 1834. 

X Hufeland's Journal der prakt. Heilk. B. lxii. St. 5. S. 128. Rust's Ma- 
gazin. der gesammt. Heilk. B. xi. S. 350. 

§ London Med. Rep. April, 1826, p. 347. See, also, Link and Osann, in 
art. Calendula in Encyc. Wbrterb. u. s. w. B. vi. S. 520. Berl. 1831. 



CALENDULA OFFICINALIS. 119 

in extremely obstinate vomiting ; and De Camp in a case of 
cardialgia, where the excitability of the stomach was so great, 
that every remedial agent was rejected before it had opportunity 
to act. Fehr also extols it as an emmenagogue, for which pro- 
perty it was celebrated with the older physicians ; but as Riecke* 
has remarked, the amount of experience with calendula is yet 
small — too small for us to pronounce whether it merit a fixed 
place in the lists of the materia medica. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The extractum calendulas is contained in the Hanoverian 
and Saxon Pharmacopoeias ; in the latter it is directed to be pre- 
pared in the following manner : — 

R. Calendul. officinal, part j. 
Aquas, part. viij. 

Macerate for twenty -four hours ; then boil for a quarter of 
an hour, and strain forcibly ; boil the remainder with four parts 
of water ; mix the two liquors, and, after twenty-four hours' rest, 
evaporate to the proper consistence.-}- 

The dose of the extract is different according to different ob- 
servers. Muhrbeck gave four grains, five times a day. Fehr 
allows, jij. to sjvj. Phobus directs the dose of the extract, pre- 
pared according to the Prussian Pharmacopoeia, to be from eight 
to sixteen grains, gradually increasing it to gss. and more, from 
two to four times a day. It may be given either in the form of 
pill or mixture. Externally, the extract is used in solution, to 
moisten the dressings of ulcers, and to form ointments. 

The dose of the decoction of the fresh plant is f.gj. to f.gij. 

The Sardinian Pharmacopoeia has a Conserv a florum calen- 
</i//:r, made by beating together one part of the flowers and two 
parts of powdered sugar. It has, also, an Acetum florum calen- 
dulw, made of one part of the petals digested in four parts of 
vinegar ; and the Wirtemberg Pharmacopoeia has an Unguen- 
tum florum calendufe, made of four ounces of the petals boiled 
in a pound of fresh butter, until the mixture is entirely evapo- 
rated. This is used as an emollient and resolvent. 



♦ Op. cit. S. 101. 

r i'lhirmacopce Universelle, &c. par Jourdan, ii. 536. 



120 CALENDULA OFFICINALIS. 

PilulaB calendula. 

Pills of calendula. 

R. Ferri subcarb. 
Calend. pulv. 
Extract, calend. aa 5J« 
Mucilag. acac. q. s. ut fiant pilulse xc. 

Dose. — Five to eight, three times a day, as a soothing agent 
in cancerous ulcers. Rust. 

R. Hydrarg. chlorid. mit. J^ss. 
Antim. sulphur, aur. 9j. 
Extr. calendul. 
conii, aa 3ij. M. f. pil. pond. gr. ij. 

Dose. — Five pills, three times a day, as a discutient in chronic 
indurations. Rust. 

Lotio extract! calendulrc. 

Lotion of the extract ofcalendida. 

R. Extract, calend. 

anthemid. aa 5'j- 

Solve in 

Aq. lauroceras, f.^ij. 
Adde 

Tinct. opii, f-3J« 

As a dressing wash ( Verbandwasser) in cancerous ulcera- 
tions. Rust. 

It is obvious, that the precise agency of the calendula cannot 
be tested in any of these formulas, the substances associated with 
it being themselves active agents. In this country, it is never 
perhaps used. 



CALX CHLORINATA. 121 



XL. CALX CHLORINATA. 

Stnonymes. Calcis Chloridum, Calcis Hypochloris, Oxychloruretum Cal- 
cii, Protochloruretum Calcii ; Chloruretum Oxydi Calcii, Bichloruretum 
Calcis, Oxymurias Calcis, Calx Oxymuriatica, Calcaria Chlorata, Chlorum 
Calcarioa, Chloretum Calcarise, Calcaria Chlorica, Chlorinated Lime, Chlo- 
ride or Chloruret, Hypochlorite, Chlorite or Oxymuriate of Lime, Tennant's 
Bleaching Powder. 

French. Protoxichlorure de Calcium, Oxichlorure de Chaux, Chlorure 
d'Oxide de Calcium, Bichlorure de Chaux, Oximuriate de Chaux, Muriate 
Suroxigene ou Oxigene de Chaux, Chlorate ou Souschlorate de Chaux, 
Poudre de Blanchement, Poudre de Tennant. 

German. Kalkchlorid, Chlorkalk. 

Chlorinated lime is a compound of chlorine and oxide of cal- 
cium. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

It may be prepared either in the dry or moist way. In the 
former case, chlorine is made to act on hydrate of lime in a 
pulverulent form ; in the latter, chlorine, in a gaseous state, is 
passed into lime water. For technical purposes, the latter is most 
used ; for pharmaceutical, the former. In the London Pharma- 
copoeia, it is directed to be prepared as follows : — Take of 
hydrate of lime a pound, chlorine, as much as may suffice ; 
send in the chlorine to the lime in a proper vessel, till it is satu- 
rated. Chlorine is very easily evolved from binoxide of manga- 
nese, mixed with muriatic acid, by a gentle heat.* It is gene- 
rally, however, prepared in large chemical establishments, for the 
use of bleachers, and is therefore in the list of the Materia 
Medica in the Pharmacopoeia of the United States (1842). 

Chlorinated lime has the appearance of a white, loose powder, 
of a sour, bitterish and somewhat biting taste, exhaling a marked 
smell of chlorine, and dissolving with tolerable facility in water, 
at the same time giving off much chlorine gas.t Its nature and 
composition are a subject of dispute, and hence the term "chlori- 
nated lime," which has been adopted by the London, Edin- 
burgh, and United States Pharmacopoeias, in place of chloride 
of lime. 

* Brande's Dictionary of Materia Medica, p. 135. Lond. 1839. 
+ Link, Art. Chlor, in Encycl. Wbrterb. der Medicin. Wissenschaft. vii. 
579. Berlin, 1831. 
11 



122 CALX CHLORINATA. 

M. Hunonx Desfontenelles* affirms, that having prepared pills 
of chlorinated lime, extract of opium and honey, they experi- 
enced a spontaneous combustion a short time after they were 
prepared ; and he states, that the reaction took place at times 
whilst the mixture was being made. He found, that powdered 
marshmallow root and liquorice, when united with chlorinated 
lime and honey, produced the same result. It would hence 
appear that chlorinated lime and organic substances ought not to 
be associated in the same prescription. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The action of chlorinated lime is generally esteemed to be 
analogous to that of liquid chlorine ; Hufeland, however, assimi- 
lates it to that of chloride of calcium. The data have been con- 
sidered as scarcely, perhaps, sufficient to determine its precise 
operation. It appears to us, however, to act mainly by means 
of its chlorine, which, being loosely combined, is readily disen- 
gaged, — all acids, even the carbonic, occasioning its separation. 
It is not much employed internally ; but, according to Cima, it 
occasions slight pains in the abdomen, burning in the stomach, 
and at times diarrhoea. 

As to its internal administration, Cima gave it in cases of 
scrophulous swellings. By Cloquet, it was used both internally 
and externally, in gangrenous ulcers ; and by Griife, Deschamps, 
Graves,! and the author, mfcetor oris. 

In a case of pectoral disease, with great foetor of the breath 
and expectoration, it was administered by Drs. Graves and 
Stokes with remarkable benefit, — a pill of three grains with one 
of opium being given three times a day, and the quantity being 
increased to twelve grains a day : the bed was also sprinkled 
with a solution of it. It has been used with advantage by the 
author in a similar case ; and in gangrene of the lungs. 

By Reid,J it was administered in dysentery, and in a bilious 
typhus occurring in summer ; by Copland§ in the last stage of 
typhus fever, when the evacuations were highly offensive, given 
in draughts of aromatic water with mucilage. Dr. Pereira|| 
also states, that he can bear testimony to the good effects of it 

* Journal de Chimie Medicale, and Soubeiran, Journ. de Pharmacie, Fevrier, 
1842, p. 121. 

t Dublin Hospital Reports, vol. v. 

\ Transactions of the Association of Fellows and Licentiates of the College 
of Physicians in Ireland, vol. v. 1838. 

\ Houlton's Appendix to translation of Magendie's Formulary, p. 163. 

|| Elements of Materia Medica, &c. 2d edit. p. 593, Lond. 1842; or Araer. 
Edit, by Dr. Carson, Philad. 1843. 



CALX CHLORINATA. 123 

in bad cases of fever ; but the same results were not observed in 
the fever of Edinburgh.* It was likewise given by Groh, Cohen, 
and Schlesiert in phthisis, and by Grafe in gonorrhoea. In none 
of these cases is it presumable, that chlorinated lime possesses 
virtues not contained in liquid chlorine. 

For external use it has been adopted in various cases, and 
especially in ulcers. According to Trnsen, an aqueous solution is 
proper for torpid ulcers of almost all kinds — the phagedenic, 
the scrophulous, &c. In syphilitic ulcers, it appears to be of use 
when the chancre is sloughing, and eats deeply into the nesh.t 

Trusen employed a solution formed by rubbing from 3uj- to 
3iv. with a pint of ivater, pouring off the supernatant fluid after 
it had stood a quarter of an hour, and applying it by means of 
pledgets of lint to the ulcer, renewing the application whenever 
the lint became dry. In this way, he found the profuse ichorous 
secretion from old ulcers diminish, the offensive odour abate, and 
fresh and healthy granulations spring up. By the same kind of 
treatment, phagedenic, herpetic, and scrophulous ulcers generally 
cicatrised speedily and permanently. § Trusen employed, at the 
same time, crude antimony with cathartics ; and in all cases he 
directed strict repose, and regulated diet. 

Trusen's observations have been confirmed by many modern 
physicians, amongst whom may be mentioned Labarraque, Lis- 
franc, Ekl, Lemaire, Heiberg, and Kopp. In ozsena, good 
effects were observed from it by Horner,|| Awl,1F Heron,** Det- 
mold,tt and Strathing : and a solution of it, in the form of injec- 
tion, was found serviceable in fistula, by Trusen and Ricord. 
Even in cancerous ulcers, recourse has been had to it by Heiberg, 
Labarraque, Duparcque, Martinet, &c. : in all cases, it corrected 
the offensive odour, and, at times, the ulcer itself assumed a 
more favourable appearance. 

Dr. FrohlichJ \ used it with advantage in a cancerous affection 
of the face, in the strength of one part to sixteen parts of water. 

In such cases it has been recommended, in order to have the 
concentrated action of the chloride, that it should be formed 

* Christison, Dispensatory, p. 242. Edinb. 1842. 

t Casper's Wochenschrift fur die gesammte Heilkunde, No. 37,1838. 

% Dr. JVIene, in Gazette Medicale, Feb. 11, 1832. 

§ See, also, Houlton's Appendix to Magendie's Formulary, p. 162. 

jj Amer. Jour, of the Medical Sciences, No. xi. 

IT Ibid. No. xxii. for Feb. 1833, p. 543. 

** Ibid. Nov. 183G, p. 271. 

ft Holscher's Annalen, 1840, Bd. v. Heft. 1 ; and Brit, and For. Med. Rev. 
Oct. 1841, p. 649. 

XX Medicin. Jalirbiicher des k. k. osterreich. Staates. B.xvii. S. 168. Wien, 
1834. 



124 CALX CHLORINATA. 

into a paste by admixture with water, and be applied in this 
manner. 

It has been used, also, in cases of ulceration of the mouth, by 
Kopp, Angelot, Heiberg, &c, applied either in the form of solu- 
tion or of a soft paste. 

In cases of wounds, the application of a solution of it has been 
recommended by many, as by Trusen, Ekl, Lisfranc,* to pro- 
mote cicatrisation after the inflammation has subsided. 

In a case oipunctured wound, received in dissecting,a.nd when 
the inflammation was proceeding up the arm with alarming 
rapidity, and the pain and tension were extreme, the patient 
experienced immediate relief from a solution used as a lotion, 
combined with the free use of leeches.t 

GubianJ has proposed to apply it to prevent pitting from 
small-pox. The maturated pustules are to be opened, and washed 
with a weak solution ; desiccation takes place very promptly, and, 
it is said, no marks or pits are left. 

On account of its antiseptic properties, it has been applied in 
cancrum oris, by Labarraque, Richter, Berndt, and numerous 
others, and in sloughing affections of the female organs of gene- 
ration of an analogous nature, by Labarraque and Ekl ; in 
hospital gangrene, by Percy, Labarraque, Siedmogrodzki, Del- 
pech, and Renard ; in gangrene of the scrotum, as well as in 
ordinary gangrene, by Heiberg and Trusen ; in all of which it 
has been of decided efficacy.§ 

In such cases it may be applied either in the form of the paste 
above mentioned, or in strong solution — 3ij. to Oj. of water. 

In burns of the second and third degree, when they are not 
spread over too great a surface of the body, a solution of chlori- 
nated lime, according to Trusen, markedly diminishes the pain, 
moderates the too great suppuration, and excites, especially in 
the second degree, sound granulations ; in the third, speedy sepa- 
ration of the dead portions, and in both cases a smooth and firm 
cicatrix. Either a solution united with mucilaginous substances, 
or a liniment prepared of it may be applied. 

Lisfranc's observations|| entirely accord with those of Trusen. 
He applies compresses spread with cerate over the burnt parts ; 
the compresses having holes in them so that the burnt surfaces 
are exposed ; they are then covered with lint soaked in a solu- 
tion of chlorinated lime, which is kept in situ and moistened as 

* Bulletin General de Therapeutique, Juillet, 1838. 

| Alcock, Essay on the Use of the Chlorurets, &c. Lond. 1827. 

X Journal de Chimie Medicale, vi. 315. 

\ Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. Stuttgart, 1837. 

|| Gazette Medicale, Mars 21, 1835. See also Bulletin General de Thera- 
peutique, Juillet 1838 ; and Clinique Chirurgicale de l'Hopital de la Pitie, 
Paris, 1841. 



CALX CHLORINATA. 125 

it becomes dry. A solution of it, as well as of chlorinated soda, 
may be applied, indeed, with advantage in the first stage of a 
burn or scald ; and Mr. Holt* affirms, that he knows nothing so 
efficacious in a " black eye." 

Dr. Chopin,f too, affirms, that in ivounds produced by contu- 
sion, laceration, or by the explosion of gunpowder, where there 
is much pain, speedy and certain relief is produced by keeping 
the dressings constantly wet with a solution of it : he found it, 
as well as chlorinated soda, very serviceable in cases of sore 
nipples. 

In chilblains, it has been used, both in the form of solution and 
of liniment with advantnge ; and not only in ulcerated chilblain, 
but where the skin was unbroken, by Trusen, Lisfranc, Grafe, 
and others. In many cases, however, it has been found advan- 
tageous to diminish the inflammation first by the application of 
leeches. In cases of deeper frost bites it has likewise proved 
beneficial. 

In salivation caused by mercury, it has been found valuable^ 
especially when administered at the beginning of the increase 
of secretion. When the ptyalism has proceeded to a greater 
extent, Trusen uses, at the same time, sulphureous baths. A 
cullutory of chlorinated lime not only diminishes the excessive 
secretion from the salivary glands, but speedily mitigates the 
sense of burning in the mouth; induces the healing of the erosions 
of the mucous membrane, and corrects the mercurial foetor. In 
such cases, the author has frequently employed it and with 
advantage, although the affection is not much under the control 
of medicine. 

In offensive odours from the mouth, arising from carious teeth, 
Regnard employed a solution of it, but it excited the salivary 
glands in a disagreeable manner. On the other hand, E. Grafe 
recommends it strongly in this very case, and even in caries, 
both inwardly, and externally as a collutory and tooth powder. 
In the latter form, it is said to remove speedily the tartar and 
yellow depositions on the teeth. By Chevallier and Kluge, it is 
strongly recommended for cleansing the mouth. The latter 
gives a formula for a collutory, which will be found amongst the 
prescriptions at the end of this article. It effectually cleanses the 
mouth, whilst it does no injury to the enamel. 

In scarlatina, a solution of chlorinated lime may be employed 
most advantageously as a gargle, and in the form of ablution to 
the surface. § 

* Lancet, April 6th, 1833. 
f Gazette Medicale, Oct. 31, 1835. 

X Elliotson, in Mr. Houlton's Appendix to translation of Magendie's Formu- 
lary. Amer. edit. p. 162. Philad. 1834. 
§ Dr. Copland, in the Appendix to Houlton's edition of Magendie's Formu- 
11* 



126 CALX CHLORINATA. 

In scrophulous swellings of the glands, according to Cima, it 
may be applied with advantage in the form of ointment ; and by 
Griife it is recommended in swellings of the joints. It has like- 
wise been used successfully by Werneck in goitre. 

In several chronic eruptions, it has been much extolled — as 
in herpes, by Kopp ; in itch, by Heiberg, Derheims,* Cluzel, Fan- 
tonetti,t Hospital,} Wittzack,§ and Napoli.|| Dr. Christisonl 
affirms, that he never uses any other remedy in itch ; — a solu- 
tion, containing between a fortieth and a sixtieth part of chlori- 
nated lime, applied five or six times a day, or continuously with 
wet cloths, allays, he says, the itching in the course of twenty- 
four hours, and generally accomplishes a cure in eight days. In 
pruritus pudendi muliebris,'\i has been advised by Darling; and 
in tinea, by Trusen, Roche, Cottereau, Kopp, and Ebermeier. In 
the last disease, it is applied in the form of liniment ; in the others, 
in solution ; but in the itch often also in the form of ointment. 
Michaelsen recommends the following method of treating itch. 
Take of chlorinated lime from two to four ounces, according to the 
degree in which the disease exists, and the length of time it has 
been in the system ; put this in a common flask or bottle full of 
rain or river water, so that as much as possible may be dissolved. 
In using it, the patient must shake the bottle well, in order that 
some of the undissolved lime may be taken up. With this, he 
washes the parts affected three or four times a day. Every third 
or fourth day, when the skin becomes somewhat rough or irri- 
tated, he is made to take a tepid bath, or to wash himself with 
warm soap and water ; and this until the cure is accomplished. 
The internal management is the same as in other plans of treat- 
ment. In the case of young children, the mixture must of course 
be weaker, — about one ounce to a pound of water. By this 
plan, the patient, it is said, is entirely cured, without any unplea- 
sant concomitants, in from seven to ten days. 

Chlorinated lime has likewise been applied in purulent ophthal- 
mia. Varlez** cured contagious blennorrhcea of the eye, by drop- 
ping upon it a solution of it. Colson, Delatte, and Reynaud,tt 
also saw good effects from it ; both in acute purulent ophthalmia, 

lary, p. 163. Dr. S. Jackson, of Northumberland, (now of Philadelphia,) in 
Amer. Journal of Med. Sciences, xii. 261 and 550, and Ibid, for May, 1838, 
p. 56. (Dr. J. uses chlorinated soda.) 

* Journal de Chimie Medicale, ii. 575. 

f Bulletin de Therapeutique, 1833 ; and American Journal of the Medical 
Sciences, August, 1833, p. 533. 

X Amer. Journal of the Medical Sciences, Nov. 1834, p. 240 (extracted). 

§ Casper's Wochenschrift, Feb. 4, 1837, S. 79. 

|| Journ. de Chimie Med., and Amer. Jour, of Pharmacy, July, 1841, p. 172. 

IT Dispensatory, p. 242. Edinb. 1842. 

** American Journal of Med. Sciences, i. 459. 

ft Journal fur Chirurgie, u. s. w. B. xiv. H. 4. 






CALX CHLORINATA. 127 

and in chronic ophthalmia with granulations, obscurity of the 
cornea, and especially in copious secretion from the Meibomian 
glands. Guthrie* applied a solution successfully in three cases 
of ophthalmia neonatorum ; and Pereirat advises a weak solu- 
tion in the same cases. Farvagnie used it beneficially in scro- 
]}hulous and catarrhal ophthalmia.% 

It has likewise been employed advantageously in other blen- 
norrhceas besides the one mentioned, and especially in the gonor- 
rhosal.§ Grafe, of Berlin, || affirms, that he succeeded with it 
when copaiba and cubebs had failed. He used it both in the 
form of pill, made as described hereafter, and of injection — the 
injection being made by dissolving gr. xxiv. in Ivj. of water, and 
adding 7 ss. of wine of opium. 

But one of the most important of the applications of chlorinated 
lime is as an antiseptic and disinfecting agent.1T It is admirably 
adapted for preventing and checking putrefaction, and for cor- 
recting the offensive odour of parts already putrefied:** and 
hence its application is most useful in anatomical investigations.tt 
Some time before dissection, the body may be enveloped in a 
cloth wetted with a solution of it (Calc. chlorin. ^ij., Jiquse, Oj.) ? 
which must be kept wet by sprinkling it from time to time : in 
this manner the offensive odour is speedily corrected. It is 
equally well adapted for purifying the air of the wards of hos- 
pitals, jails, or ships ; a little of the solution being sprinkled from 
time to time on the floors ; or shallow vessels, containing it, being 
placed in different parts of the room. It is used, moreover, for 
neutralising contagious miasmata dispersed in the air, or con- 
tained in clothing, furniture, &c, care being taken, in all these 
cases, that due ventilation be practised. 

It has been doubted, however,! % and even denied, that its use 

* Medical and Physical Journal, Nov. 1827. 

+ Elements of Mat. Med. 2d edit. i. 593, Lond. 1842 ; or Amer. edit, by Dr. 
Carson, Philad. 1843. 

\ Verhandlung der vereinigt. arztlich. Gesellschaft. der Schweiz. Jahr 
1829. Zurich, 1830. 

§ Alcock, Essay on the Use of Chlorurets, &c. Lond. 1827. 

|| Amer. Journal of Medical Sciences, and Amer. Journal of Pharmacy, 2d 
series, vol. ii. 80. Philad. 1838. See, also, M. Koussf, Bulletin General de 
Thcrap. Janv. 1842. 

% Labarraque, on the Use of the Chlorides of Soda and Lime, translated by 
Jacob Porter. New Haven, 1829. 

** Alcock, Op. cil. 

ft Magendie, Formulaire, &c. 

\\ Observation on the ohloi ides and chlorine as " disinfecting agents," and 
as preventives of cholera. By H. Bronson, M.D. Boston, 1832. See, also, 
American Journal nftbe Medical Sciences, for Feb. 1833, p. 481 ; Dr. Albers, 
in London (Med. Gaz. viii. Ill)), as to its ineffieacy in cholera; and Pereira, 
Elements of Mat. Med. <fcc, 2d edit. i. 591, Lond, 1842; or Amer. Edit, by 
Dr. Carson, Philad. 1843. 



12S CALX CHLORINATA. 

is productive of any advantage in preventing the spread of in- 
fectious, contagious, or epidemic diseases. Nay, it has been 
affirmed to be positively injurious, by deteriorating the atmo- 
sphere, and in this there may be truth, unless the precautions, 
mentioned above, be taken. In various cases, in which such 
diseases have prevailed, it has destroyed all offensive odour, but 
the extension of the" malady has not been prevented.* 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Chlorinated lime has been given internally both in the form of 
solution and of troches, the dose being from gr. j. to grs. vj. four 
to six times a day. Externally, it is generally applied in solu- 
tion of different strengths, (from 5j. to giv. to eight ounces of 
water) — being decanted to remove the particles of lime from 
it, unless where it is considered advisable to employ the turbid 
solution. 

In cases of very offensive evacuations from the bowels,' ten or 
fifteen grains may be added to a common enema. It is, like- 
wise, applied in the form of ointment, and of liniment, and, also, 
of a paste made by admixture with water. 

The following forms have been given for its administration :t 



Trocliisci calcis chlorinatae. 
Lozenges of chlorinated lime. 

R. Calcis chlorin. 3ij. 

Sacchar. §viij. 

Amyl. §j. 

Tragac. gj. 

Carmin. gr. iij. 
M. Fiant trochisci. pond. gr. iij. 

One of these to be taken three or four times a day, and allowed 
to dissolve in the mouth, in cases of factor oris. 

Deschamps. 

* Pereira, Ibid. p. 592. 
t Riecke, Op. cit. S. 94. 



CALX CHLORINATA. 129 

Mistura caleis chlorinate. 

Mixture of chlorinated lime. 

R. Caleis chlorin. Jj. 
Mist, amygd. f.^vij. 
Syrup, acaciae, f.^j. M. 

A table-spoonful every three hours in gonorrhoea. 

E. Grcife* 

Pilule caleis chlorinate. 

Pills of chlorinated lime. 

R. Caleis chlorin. £j. 
Ext. opii, gr. ix. 
Mucilag. acac. q. s. 
Divide in pilulas liv. 

Dose. — One, every two or three hours, in gonorrhoea, gradually 
increasing the dose until eight, ten, or twelve are taken every 
hour. 

Grdfe. 

Collutorium caleis chlorinate. 

Collutory of chlorinated lime. 

R. Caleis chlorin. grs. xv. ad Jss. 
Mucil. acac. f.^j. 
Syrup, aurant. f.^ss. M. 

A little of this solution to be applied by means of a mop of 
charpie to ulcers in the mouth. Angelot. 

R. Caleis chlorin. Jiij. 
Aquas destillat. 
Alcohol, aa. f.^ij. 
01. rosic, gtt. iv. 
Solve et ultra. 

Chevallier. 

A tea-spoonful of this solution is mixed with a glass of water, 

* Journal fiir Chirurgie, u. s. w. B. xiv. St. 2. 



130 CALX CHLORINATA. 

and used in foelor oris. According to Riecke,* an analogous 
nostrum has been sold at a high price under the name — Pneu- 
mokatharterion. 

R. Calcis chlorin. 5j» 
Solve, leniter terendo, in 

Aquae destillat. f.Ovj. 
Tunc adde 

Alcohol. (.830) f-sviij. 
Mist, reponatur in loco frigido per horas xxiv. ; tunc filtretur et reserv. 
in lagena bene obturata. (" Let the mixture be put aside in a cold place 
for twenty-four hours ; then let it be filtered and kept in a well stopped 
vessel.") 

It has been recommended that the mouth should be rinsed 
with this after the teeth have been brushed. 

Freyberg von Kluge. 

R. Calcis chlorin. gss. 
Solve exactiss. trituratione in 

Aq. f.gij. 
Et post limpid, clarificat. admisce 

Alcoholis, f.^ij. 

01. rosse, gtt. iv. M. 

The mouth is rinsed in cases of salivation with a mixture made 
by adding a tea-spoonful of the solution to a glass of water. 

Trusen. 

The Pharmacopoeia of Sweden has an antiscorbutic collutory, 
called Linctus ad stomacacen seu oxymuriatis calcici, which is 
formed as follows : 

R. Solut. calcis chlorin. Jss. 
Aquae, 
Mellis, aa. 3vj. M. 

Dentifricium calcis chlorinate. 

Dentifrice of chlorinated lime. 

R. Calcis chlorin. in pulv. gr. iv. 
Corallinae rubrae, Jij. M. 

A new tooth-brush should be slightly wetted, dipped in this 

* P . cit. S. 94. 



CALX CHLORINATA. 131 

powder, and rubbed over the teeth. Employed to give their 
natural colour to teeth. 

Magendie. 

Solntio calcis chlorinate. 
Solution of chlorinated lime. 

R. Calcis chlorin. %\\}. 
Solve in 

Aquae destill. Oj. 
Adde 

Tinct. opii crocat. 
vel Vini opii. f-3j. ad f.5ij. M. 

Applied to frost-bites. Trusen. 

R. Calcis chlorin. § ss. 
Tere invicem et sensim affunde 

Aq. (seu Aq. rosae) Oj. 
Et post clariflcat. limpid, admisce 

Mucil. acac. (seu sem. cydon.) ^ij. 



Applied by means of linen rags in cases of burns. 



Trusen. 



R. Calcis chlorin. 3ij. ad 3iij. 
Aquae, Oj. Solve. 

To be applied by means of rags kept constantly wet in cases 
of hospital gangrene ; the mixture being shaken. 

Bust, and Kluge. 

R. Calcis chlorin. 311J. 
Aquae destillat. Oj. 
Solve et cola. 

Used as a lotion in cases of itch on the thigs, legs, and arms, 
twice or thrice daily. In general, six or eight days are sufficient 
to effect a cure. Magendie. 

The disinfecting liquor of Labarraque, Liqueur dhinfectante 
de Labarraque, is made l>y adding ten parts of water, to one 
part of the chlorinated lime divided in a mortar; suffering the 
solution to settle, and then filtering. 



132 CALX CHLORINATA. 

Collyrium calcis chlorinate. 

Colly rium of chlorinated lime. 

R. Calcis chlorin. gr. iv. ad vj. 
Vin. opii, rr\,x. 
Mucilag. acac. f.Jiss. 
Aq. rosse, f.gij. M. et filtra. 

To be dropped in the eye in cases of catarrhal and scrophu- 
lous ophthalmia. Farvagnie. 

Injectio calcis chlorinate composita. 

Compound injection of chlorinated lime. 

R. Calcis chlorinat. Jij. 

Decoct, kramer. f.3xiij. M. 

Half an ounce of this to be injected into the nose three or 
four times a day in cases of ozsena. 

Detmold (of Hanover). 

Cataplasma calcis chlorinate. 

Cataplasm of chlorinated lime. 

R. Calcis chlorin. 

Sodii chlorid. aa. sss. 

Aquae destill. Oss. 

Farinse sem. lin. q. s. ut fiat cataplasma. 

Used in cases of scrophulous swelling of the joints. 

Grdfe. 

Unguentum calcis chlorinate. 

Ointment of chlorinated lime. 

R. Calcis chlorin. 3j. 

Adipis, 5j. M. fiat unguentum. 

To be rubbed in, in cases of scrophulous swellings. 

Cima. 
R. Calcis chlorin. 3ss. 

Adipis, §j. M. f. unguent. 

Used in goitre. Werneck. 



CANNABIS INDICA. 133 

R. Adipis, §j. 
Sodse borat. 
Calcis chlorin. aa. 3j. M. exactissime. 

In cases of chilblains. Trusen. 

R. Sulphuris, ^iss. 

Calcis chlorin. bene, tritur. §ij. 
Adipis, gx. M. 

In itch, morning and evening. Hospital. 

linimentum calcis chlorinate. 

Liniment of chlorinated lime. 

R. Calcis chlorin. ^ss. 
Tere in mortario vitreo et sensim affunde 

Aq. rosse, (sea fontanae,) f.^j. 
Et post, limpid, clarificat. admisce 
01. amygd. f.^j. 

To be applied by means of a pencil in cases of tinea capitis. 

Trusen. 



XLI. CAN'NABIS IN'DICA. 

Synonymes. Indian Hemp, Gunjah. 

Dr. Pereira* states, that the Cannabis, which grows in India 
aid has been described by some botanists under the name Can- 
nabis Indica, does not appear to him to possess any specific dif- 
ferences from the common hemp, Cannabis sativa ; and ac- 
cordingly, by many botanists, they have been regarded as 
d ntical. 

The narcotic effects have been long known to the people of 
Southern Africa, South America, Turkey, Egypt, Asia Minor, 
India, and the adjacent countries of the Malays, Burmese, and 
Siamese, by whom it is used in various forms to induce intoxi- 
cation. It is, likewise, extensively employed in popular prac- 
tice in various diseases. In Western Europe its use is unknown, 
and it is questionable, whether the hemp of that region or of 

* Elements of Materia Medica, 2d edit. p. 1096. Lond. 1842. 



134 CANNABIS INDICA. 

this country be possessed of the same properties. Dr. O'Shaugh- 
nessy states, that me extraordinary symptoms produced by the 
oriental plant depend upon a resinous secretion with which it 
abounds, and which seems to be wholly absent in the European 
plant. The absence of the resinous secretion, and consequent 
want of narcotic power, he ascribes to difference of climate. 

Within the last few years, Dr. O'Shaughnessy, of Calcutta,* 
has detailed many interesting facts in regard to the therapeutic 
agency of this plant, which, " we doubt not" — says a recent 
writer! — " will cause a great sensation among the members of 
the profession throughout the world." 

In certain seasons, and in warm countries, a resinous juice 
exudes, and concretes on the leaves, slender stems and flowers 
of the Cannabis. This constitutes the churrus of Nipal and 
Hindusthan, and in it reside the powers of all the preparations 
of hemp. This resin — cannabin — is very soluble in alcohol and 
ether; partially soluble in alkaline, but insoluble in acid, solutions. 
When pure, it is of a blackish-grey colour ; it is hard at 90° of 
Fahrenheit, but softens at higher temperatures, and fuses readily. 
It is soluble in the fixed, and in several volatile oils. Its odour 
is fragrant and narcotic ; taste slightly warm, bitterish and acrid. 
The dried hemp plant, which has flowered, and from which the 
resin has not been removed, is called Gunjah. It yields to alco- 
hol twenty per cent, of resinous extract, composed of the resin — 
chw*rus — and green colouring matter. The Gunjah is used for 
smoking. The larger leaves and capsules, without the stalks, 
constitute Sidhee, Subjee, or Bang, which is used to form with 
water an intoxicating drink. When the plant is distilled with a 
large quantity of water, traces of volatile oil pass over, and the 
distilled liquor has the powerful narcotic odour of the plant. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

The effects of this remedy would appear to have been well 
known to the Arabian and Persian physicians of both modern 
and ancient periods ; but the first person, who seems to have 
well tested its properties is Dr. O'Shaughnessy. In his various 
experiments, he did not observe the least indication of pain, or 
any degree of convulsive movement. They all, he affirms, " led 
to one remarkable result, — that while carnivorous animals and 
fish, dogs, cats, swine, vultures, crows, and adjutants invariably 
and speedily exhibited the intoxicating influence of the drug, the 

* On the Preparations of Indian Hemp, or Gunjah {Cannabis Indica), &c, Cal- 
cutta, 1839 ; and Brit, and For. Med. Rev. July, 1840, p. 224. 
| Brit, and For. Med. Rev. loc. cit. 



CANNABIS INDICA. 135 

graminivorous, — such as the horse, deer, monkey, goat, sheep, and 
cow, — experienced but trivial effects from any dose that was ad- 
ministered." Encouraged by these results, Dr. O'Shaughnessy 
felt no hesitation as to the perfect safety of giving the resin of 
hemp an extensive trial in cases in which its apparent powers 
promised the greatest degree of utility. 

The general effects observed on man were alleviation of pain 
in most cases, remarkable augmentation of the appetite, aphro- 
disia, and great mental cheerfulness. The more violent effects 
were a peculiar form of delirium, and a cataleptic state. 

Dr. Pereira* experimented on some specimens of Gunjah and 
Nipalese churrus, which were sent to him by Dr. O'Shaughnessy. 
He tried them both on animals and man, and gave specimens 
of them to medical friends ; but their effects were found to be 
comparatively slight. " Whether," — says Dr. Pereira, — " this 
be owing to the preparations having undergone some deteriora- 
tion in their passage, or to the comparative phlegmatic tempera- 
ment of the English, I know not. My experiments on animals 
were made in the Lecture-room of the London Hospital before 
the students of the Materia Medica class ; and the trials on the 
human subject were made in the wards of the hospital." 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

Indian hemp was prescribed by Dr. O'Shaughnessy in various 
diseases. In rheumatism, acute and chronic, the results were 
not very satisfactory. In one case, the most marked catalepsy 
supervened along with the usual intoxicating effects. In a case 
of hydrophobia, the soothing influence of the remedy was very 
great ; but the disease terminated fatally. In cholera, he con- 
sidered its agency to be " promising, and to deserve the attention 
of the practitioner." The testimony is strongest in regard to its 
influence in traumatic tetanus ; of which Dr. O'Shaughnessy 
refers to fourteen cases : of these, nine appear to have recovered. 
From the results of these cases, he concludes, that the resin of 
hemp, given boldly and in large doses, is capable of arresting 
effectually the progress of that formidable disease, "and in a large 
proportion of cases, of effecting a perfect cure ;" — and further ; 
"that in hemp the profession has gained an anticonvulsive remedy 
of the greatest value." 

With such strong evidence in its favour, it is certainly im- 
portant, that Indian hemp should be subjected to a full and fair 
trial ; and even admitting that it may fall short of the character 
given of it by Dr. O'Shaughnessy, it can scarcely fail to be an 
important addition to our Materia Medica. 

* Elements of Mat. Med. 2d edit. ii. 1098. Lond. 1842. 



CARBO ANIMALIS. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The preparations used by Dr. O'Shaughnessy are the fol- 
lowing: — 

Extractum cannabis Indicse alcoholicnm. 

Resinous or alcoholic extract of Indian hemp. 

This is prepared by boiling the rich adhesive tops of the dried 
Gunjah in alcohol (.835) until all the resin is dissolved. The 
tincture, thus obtained, is evaporated to dryness in a vessel placed 
over a pot of boiling water. 

In hydrophobia, the resin in soft pill, to the amount of ten to 
twenty grains, is directed to be chewed by the patient, and to 
be repeated according to the effect. 

Tinctnra cannabis Indies. 

Tincture of Indian hemp. 

R. Extract, cannab. indie, alcohol, gr. xxiv. 
Alcohol, dilut. f.5j. 

Of this a dram is given in tetanus every half hour, until the 
paroxysms cease, or catalepsy is induced. In cholera, ten drops 
given every half hour were often found to check the vomiting 
and purging, and bring back warmth to the surface. Dr. 
O'Shaughnessy's experience leads him to prefer small doses of 
the remedy in order to excite rather than narcotize the patient. 



XLIL CARBO ANIMA'LIS. 

Synonymes. Carbo Carnis, Animal Charcoal. 

French. Charbon animal. 

German. Thierische Kohle ; Fleischkohle, Thierkohle. 

Animal charcoal is an ancient remedy, which has been revived 
amongst us. The older physicians used several kinds, and re- 
commended them in various diseases, but without having any 
fixed principle ; the circumstances, indeed, that suggested their 



CARBO ANIMALIS. 137 

exhibition in many cases, are entirely unintelligible to us of the 
present day. In the old Wirtemberg Pharmacopoeia, we find 
the Erinaceus combustus, or "burnt hedgehog," as an antihydro- 
pic; the Sericum tostum, or "burnt silk," and the Hirundines 
combustse, or "burnt swallows," as antiepileptics ; the Lepus 
combustus, or " burnt hare," as an antilithic ; the Reguli usti, or 
" burnt wrens," advised in nephritis and in calculous affections ; 
and the Talpgs combustse, or " burnt moles," at one time much 
extolled in erratic gout, lepra, scroplmla, ulcers and fistulas ! All 
have properly fallen, however, into oblivion with the profession, 
although there may yet be some, who cling with pertinacity to 
these relics of ancient ignorance and superstition. The " cancer 
remedy" of Cosme, into the composition of which burnt shoe- 
soles entered, appears to have kept up the employment of ani- 
mal charcoal ; as well as the " burnt sponge," Spongia usta, in 
which, however, the charcoal is of but little efficacy compared 
with the iodine it contains. These were perhaps the only forms 
in which animal charcoal was used at the time when Weise, a 
German physician, revived its employment ; and many physi- 
cians soon came forward to attest favourably in regard to it. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Weise gives the following method of preparing it : — Cut ribs 
of veal, with the flesh attached, into small pieces, and put them 
into a drum for roasting coffee, — turning the drum constantly 
whilst it is placed over the fire. When inflammable air begins 
to pass off, which is distinguished by the flame playing around 
the drum, the combustion must still be kept up a quarter of an 
hour longer. If it be continued so long as any inflammable air 
is disengaged, the preparation is inefficacious. The substance, 
most commonly met with under the name of "animal charcoal," 
is obtained by burning bones. The residue, when reduced to 
powder, is the well known substance bone black, ox ivory black. 
This generally contains more or less phosphate of lime accord- 
ing to the kind of bone from which it has been procured. It 
is directed in the London Pharmacopoeia and in the last edition 
of the Pharmacopoeia of the United States (1842), to be purified 
by digestion in dilute muriatic acid, as follows : Take of animal 
charcoal, a pound ; muriatic acid and water, each twelve fluid 
ounces. Mix the muriatic acid with the water, and gradually 
pour it upon the charcoal ; then digest for two days in a gentle 
heat, occasionally agitating. Set aside, and pour off the super- 
natant liquor, then wash the charcoal with repeated portions 
of water, till no traces of acid are perceptible ; lastly, dry it. 
Charcoal, prepared in this way, should be a combination of car-* 
12* 



138 CARBO ANIMALIS. 

bon, carbonate and phosphate of lime, hydrogen, and azote. 
From an analysis, which Meurer made of animal charcoal, pre- 
pared according to Weise's formula, it contains, also, chloride of 
sodium and a little carbonate of soda, as well as a portion of 
iron. 

EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

In the case of a young man of scrophulous diathesis, Weise 
saw a tumour, of the size of a hazelnut, and very painful, situate 
under the nipple, disappear under the use of animal charcoal. 
According to him, its efficacy is strongly exerted on the uterus 
and mamma;. Rothamel and Hohnbauin extol it in dyspepsia 
and gastricism, as well as in cases of diarrhoea. In obstinate 
chronic glandular indurations, especially of the mammary 
glands, Weise affirms it to be a certain remedy : he, at the same 
time, however, considers a regulated diet to be indispensable. 
Scirrhus of the lips, he says, also disappears under its use, and 
even scirrhous goitre when the charcoal is associated with burnt 
sponge. On cartilaginous polypi, it is said to have exerted a 
beneficial agency, and to have diminished the tendency of mu- 
cous polypi to return after operation. Even open cancer, it is 
asserted, has been healed by it.* On these recommendations of 
Weise, animal charcoal has been used by several German phy- 
sicians, especially by Wagner, Kopp, Pitschaft, Radius, Rotha- 
mel, Hesselbach, Gumpert, Hohnbaum, Fricke, Michaelsen, and 
Siebenhaar ; and, as a general result of their observations, it 
would seem not to be devoid of therapeutical agency ; although 
many of the experimenters failed in noticing any sanative effect 
from it. Fricke, for example, did not observe the least benefit 
in the very cases mentioned by Weise. He gave it, also, in the 
way of experiment, in several other cases, but without detecting 
the slightest influence on the organism. Other physicians saw 
advantages from its use in open cancer, but these were only 
transient. On the other hand, the experience of Wagner, Kopp, 
Michaelsen, and Rothamel would seem to show, that it was 
effectual in removing incipient scirrhus of the mammae. Kopp 
employed it successfully in scirrhous goitre, and Pitschaft in a 
case of what he terms struma varicosa. Radius dispersed under 
its use a considerable swelling of the submaxillary glands. In 
scrophulous affections, especially in scrophulous indurations of 
the glands, it is said to have proved useful in the hands of Kopp, 
Rothamel, Speranza, Kuhn, and others, but Baudelocque did not 
find it to possess any therapeutical property .t Pitschaft, in a 

* Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. S. 104. 

f Dubois (d' Amiens), Traite de Pathologie Generate, 2erae edit. p. 206. 
Bruxelles, 1835. 



C.ARBO ANIMALIS. 139 

delicate, strumous woman, who was suffering constantly under 
ozsena, found it of eminent service after other remedies had 
failed. Radius thought it aided the absorption of a disintegrated 
cataract, and Siebenhaar saw good effects from it in induration 
of the jjancreas. 

Riecke* suggests, that farther trials may show, that it might 
be used in the place of iodine, which it appears to resemble in 
its action on the economy, whilst it affects the organism less in- 
juriously. It is extremely doubtful, however, whether the pro- 
perties of the two substances can be regarded as at all analo- 
gous, and whether animal charcoal be possessed of any other 
properties than those usually ascribed to prepared charcoal. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Carbo animalis is given in doses of from half a grain to three 
grains twice a day, — commonly in the form of powder with sugar, 
or with powdered liquorice root. Weise advises it to be sprinkled 
on the hard edges of cancerous ulcers, and Speranza extols an 
ointment made of charcoal, and oil, or simple cerate as a discu- 
tient in scrophulous swellings. 

Pulvis carbonis animalis. 

Powder of animal charcoal. 

R. Carbon, animal, gr. ij. 
Glycyrr. pulv. gr. v. 
F. pulvis. 

A powder to be given morning and evening. 

R. Carbon, animal, gr. vi. 
Spong. ust. gr. xij. 
Glycyrrhiz. pulv. Jss. 
M. f. pulv. in partes vi. tequales dividendus. 

A powder to be taken night and morning in scirrhous goitre. 

Riecke. 

R. Carbonis animal, gr. iv. 

CI ycyrrh. pulv. 9iv. M. et divide in part. viij. 

One of these to be taken dry, morning and evening, a little 
♦ Op. cit. 



140 CARBONIS SESQTJI-IODIDTJM. 



water being drunk afterwards, in cases of scirrhous indurations 
of the mammx. After the eight powders have been taken, the 
dose may be increased gradually by half a grain, until it ulti- 
mately attains four grains. At the same time, unirritating and 
spare diet should be inculcated. 



Boli carboiiis animalis. 
Boluses of animal charcoal. 

R. Carbon, animal, gr. iij. 
Ammon. muriat. pulv. ^j. 
Ext. conii, gr. ij. 
glycyrrhiz. q. s. ut fiat bolus. 

One of these to be given three times a day ; — in cases of 
swelling and scirrhus of the prostate, and of the mucous mem- 
brane of the urethra. Magendie. 



XLIII. CARBO'NIS SESQUI-IO'DIDUM. 

Synonymes. Carbonis Sesqui-ioduretum, Sesqui-iodide or Sesqui-ioduret of 
Carbon. 

This preparation is made by mixing concentrated alcoho- 
lic solutions of iodine and potassa until the former loses its 
colour. A solution is obtained, from which the addition of 
water throws down a yellow precipitate — the sesqui-iodide of 
carbon. 

This substance is soluble in alcohol and ether, but insoluble 
in water. The ethereal solution yields large yellow crystals by 
slow evaporation. It has a sweet taste, and a strong saffron- 
like odour. Mitscherlich* considers the taste very disagreeable. 

Fifty grains given by Dr. Cogs\vell,f to a strongly made terrier 
dog, proved fatal ; and, on dissection, the large vessels were 
found congested ; the inner membrane was closely corrugated, 
and the apices of the rugae were of a rose-red colour. 

* Traite de Chimie, traduit par Valerius. 
| Essay on Iodine, p. 122. Edinb. 1S37. 



CETRARINA. 141 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

Dr. Litchfield* used it with advantage in five cases of enlarged 
glands ; in two of lepra, and three of porrigo, in the form of 
ointment composed of 3ss. of the powder to 3yj. of simple cerate. 



XLIV. CETRARFNA. 

Synonymes. Cetrarin, Cetrarine. 
French. Cetrarin. 

This substance has been extracted, of late, from Cetraria Islan- 
dica, by M. Herberger, a pharmacien at Kaiserslautern.t 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

The coarse powder of cetraria is boiled for half an hour in 
four times its weight of alcohol at .8S3 ; it is then left at rest until 
vapours cease to be given off, to avoid the loss of the alcohol ; 
when it is strained and pressed. Three drams of muriatic acid, 
previously diluted with water, are now added to each pound of 
the moss ; this is mixed with from four times and a quarter to four 
times and a half its bulk of water, and the mixture is left at rest 
for a night in a closed flask. The next day, the deep yellow 
fluid, which swims above the copious deposite obtained, is poured 
off: this deposite is the impure cetrarin, the colour of which is 
more or less greenish. It is now collected on a filter (chausse), 
left to drain as little as possible and subjected to pressure. To 
purify it, it must be divided into small fragments, and washed 
whilst still moist with alcohol or ether, which deprives it of 
colour ; it is then treated with two hundred times its weight of 
boiling alcohol, in which the inorganic matter, that has hitherto 
accompanied it, is scarcely soluble. The greater part of the 
cetrarin is gradually precipitated on the cooling of the alcoholic 
solution. The portion, which still remains in solution, may be 
separated by the evaporation of the alcohol. 

Pure cetrarin is, at times, in the state of a white powder, re- 

* Lond. Med. Gaz., Aug. 183G. 

f Buchner's Kcpertorium, B. viii. H. 1. 1837. 



142 CETRARINA. 

sembling magnesia ; at others, in small globules united in the 
form of arborisations, which do not present — even under the 
microscope — any crystalline texture. When gently compressed, 
it has a slight silky splendour. It is neuter, light, unalterable in 
the air, inodorous, and has a very intense bitter taste, especially 
in the alcoholic solution. Its best solvent is absolute alcohol, 
one hundred parts dissolving 1.70 of it at the boiling tempera- 
ture, but only 0.28 at 14° centig. (5S° Fahr.). Alcohol, at 0.830 
dissolves 0.44 when boiling, 0.28 at 25° cent. (77° Fahr.), and 
only 0.04 at 14° cent. (5S° Fahr.). It is still less soluble in boil- 
ing and in cold water, the essential oils, creasote, &c. It is some- 
what more soluble in ether, but insoluble in the fixed oils.* 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

Muller, a physician of Kaiserslautern,t details two cases in 
which he has administered cetrarin. One of these was a quar- 
tan, the other a tertian intermittent. The effects appeared to 
be exerted more slowly than those of quinia, but it seemed to 
him not to affect the stomach so much.[?] Its price must be 
considerably less, as M. Herberger succeeded in obtaining from 
a pound of lichen 135 grains of very pure cetrarin. 

It has not been given, so far as we know, in this country. 



METHOD OF ADMINISTERING. 

Muller gave it in the form of powder, according to the follow- 
ing prescription : — 

R. Cetrarin. 

Acaciae, aa. gr. ij. 

Sacchar. ^ss. M. et fiat pulvis. 

Dose. — One of these every two hours, during the apyrexia. 

Bruck,J suggests, that if dissolved in alcohol, its action may 
be incomparably more potent, and that it may more speedily 
arrest the paroxysms of an intermittent than when given in 
powder. 

* Journal de Pharmacie, xxiii. 505. Paris, 1837, and Bulletin General de 
Therapeutique, No. 18, Sep. 30, 1837. 

f H. Bruck, in Bulletin General de Therapeutique, No. 17, Sep. 15, 1837. 
± Op. cit. 



CHIMAPHILA. 143 



XLV. CHIMAPH'ILA (FO'LIA). 

Stnonymes. Chimaphila vel Chimophilse Umbellatae Folia ; Pyrola, Py- 
roke Umbellatae Folia, Winter Green, Umbellated Winter Green, Pipsis- 
sewa. 

French. Herbe a pisser, Pyrole en Ombelle. 

German. Die Blatter des holdenbllihtigen Wintergriins. 

This plant is not new to us ; but numerous trials have been 
made with it recently in Europe. It is admitted into the Pharma- 
copoeia of the United States, is a beautiful evergreen, and is in- 
digenous in the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America. 
It belongs to the Natural Family of heaths, Ericea?, Pyrolacese 
(Lindley) ; and Sexual System, Decandria Monogynia. A 
good description of it is given by Barton.* 

The leaves have a bitter sweetish taste, with some degree of 
astringency. The taste of the stems and roots is, in addition, 
considerably pungent. Boiling water and alcohol extract the 
virtues of the plant. The constituents, so far as ascertained, are 
bitter extractive, tannic acid, resin, gum, lignin, and saline 
matters. 

The active principle has not been determined. It probably 
resides in the bitter extractive; — the resin and tannic acid, how- 
ever, contributing to its eifects.f 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

The leaves of Chimaphila were long used by the Indians of 
this continent, and from them the American physician was in- 
duced to employ them. The first regular treatise respecting the 
plant is said to have been a thesis of Dr. Mitchell, published in 
the year 1S034 In Canada, it is said to have been long used 
in diseases of the urinary passages, especially in calculus, dropsy, 
and in chronic gout and rheumatism ; its effects appearing to 
resemble — but not to exceed — those marvellously ascribed to 
uva ursi.§ Somerville|| and Barton extol it as an excellent 
diuretic in different forms of dysuria, and in dropsies, especially 
such as succeed to acute diseases ; in nephralgia as a palliative, 

* Medical Botany, i. 17 ; see, also, Art. Chimaphila, in Wood and Bache's 
Dispensatory, ltd edit. p. 197. Pliila. 1839. 

f Pereira's Elements of Materia Medica, &c, ii. 1333. Lond. 1842; or 
Amer. edit, by Dr. Carson, Philad. 1843. 

X Barton's Collection, ii. 2. 

\ See the author's General Therap. and Mat. Med. i. 275. Philad. 1843. 

II Medico-chirurgical Transactions, v. 340. 



144 CHIMAPHILA. 

especially when the paroxysms are occasioned by gravel which 
has accumulated in the kidney ; and even in vesical calculus. 
During its use, the appetite improved, and the digestive powers 
augmented ; the patients often experiencing — immediately after 
it was taken — an agreeable sensation in the stomach, and in 
the region of the kidneys. 

Radius* found it especially serviceable in dropsy, gout, and 
rheumatism ; and in inordinate activity of the secretory func- 
tion of the mucous membranes — chronic catarrh, phthisis 
pituitosa, &.C According to him, it is contraindicated where 
there is much fever, disposition to diarrhoea, gastricism, and 
great debility of the stomach. Heyfelder affirms, that it appears 
to be advantageous in the debility of the digestive organs at- 
tendant upon dropsy, but its diuretic effect is not considerable, 
or enduring, so that it requires to be associated with other more 
powerful agents. 

Experiments, which have been made recently in the Burger- 
hospital at Pesth, and which have been collected by St. Rochus 
and published by Windisch, the director of the hospital, are ex- 
tremely favourable to the chimaphila. Within two years, nearly 
two hundred dropsical cases are said to have been radically 
cured by it. Windisch recommends it most strongly to the at- 
tention of his colleagues ; he asserts it to be one of the best 
diuretics we possess ; that it does not impair digestion ; moder- 
ately accelerates the circulation ; gently encourages the action of 
the bowels, and powerfully augments the urinary secretion ; that 
the patients willingly take it, and that it induces no nausea. It 
was administered with advantage in dropsies unaccompanied by 
fever, and not dependent upon organic mischief, upon " corrup- 
tion of the humours or paralysis of the lymphatic textures." In 
febrile conditions and inflammatory diatheses, it is said to have 
been always injurious, as well as when it was administered prior 
to the resolution of obstructions remaining after long protracted 
intermittents ; but when these are removed, and no excitement 
exists, — more, according to Windisch, is to be expected from it 
than from any other agent, and he strongly advises, that careful 
trials should be made with it in the proper cases. He advises, 
also, that its use should be persevered in, in order that good 
effects may be derived from it. 

The author has frequently administered chimaphila in public 
and private practice, and has found it serviceable, where a tonico- 
diuretic was indicated. It is probably owing to its tonic pro- 
perties, that it has been found occasionally serviceable in scro- 
phula. 

* Auserlesene Heilformeln zum Gebrauche fur praktische Aerzteund Wun- 
darzte, u. s. vv. Leipz. 1836. 



CHIMAPHILA. 145 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Chimaphila is given either in infusion, or, what is preferable, 
in decoction ; the dose in the day being from half an ounce to 
an ounce. Where it does not act sufficiently on the bowels, 
Radius advises, that a few senna leaves should be added. In af- 
fections of the chest, he found the addition of the spirit of nitric 
ether advantageous. Generally, however, he gave it alone. 
Windisch found a combination of it with tartrate of antimony 
and potassa, sulphuret of potassium, muriate of ammonia, squill, 
and, in very great weakness, cinchona and preparations of iron, 
serviceable. Radius often administered also the aqueous or 
spirituous extract. 

Decoctnm chimaphilae. 

Decoction of chimaphila. 

R. Chimaphil. ,§j. 

Aquaj, Oij. (Oiss. Ph. U. S. and Lond.) 
Coque ad colatur. Oj. 

To be used daily in dropsy. 

Somerville. 

Dr. Joy* adds to this two drams of Liquor Potassse Carbo- 
natis, and directs four table-spoonfuls of the mixture to be taken 
three times a day. He recommends it " in dropsy and chronic 
affections of the urinary organs" as if all these affections were 
identical or even analogous pathological conditions ! 

i£. Chimaphil. gss. ad gj. 
Coque cum aquce f.^xij. ad reman, f.^vj. 
Coctione finita adde 

Spiritus frumenti. (gin, malt spirit or whisky) f .3 i j . 

Digere frigide per horas vj. et cola. 

Dose. — Two spoonfuls to be taken four times a day in dropsy 
and gout. Radius. 

* Tweedie's Library of Medicine, v. 312. London, 1840 ; and 2d American 
edit. vol. iii., p. 692. Philad. 1842. 
13 



146 CHLORI>"UM. 

1£. Chimaphil. 5 v j- 
Coque cum aq. f-5xij. ad reman, f.svj. 
Sub finem coctionis adde 

Fol. sennse 5'j- et cola. 

Dose. — A spoonful to be taken every two hours. 

Radius. 



XLVI. CHLO'RINUM. 

Synonymes. Chlorinium, Chlorineum, Chlorum, Chlorine, Murigene, Acidum 
Muriaticum Oxygenatum, Acidum Marinum Dephlogisticatum, Spiritus 
Salis Marini Dephlogisticatus, Dephlogisticated Muriatic Acid, Oxygenated 
Muriatic Acid. 

French. Chlore. 

German. Chlor, Chlorgas. 

Uncombined chlorine is employed medicinally not only in the 
gaseous but in the liquid state. Of each of these we shall treat 
in succession. 

The forms for evolving it in the gaseous state, as well as the 
gaseous chlorine itself, have had various names assigned them 
expressive of their chemical or medical properties. They have 
been termed, respectively, Acidum muriaticum oxygenation ad 
contagia ; Fumigatio muriatico-oxygenata ; Pulvis adfumi- 
gationes muriaticus ; Species pro vaporibus superoxydi muria- 
tici ; Suffilus oxymuriaticus ; S. chlorini ; Jllexiterium Clilo- 
ricum, Fumigation de Chlor, F. de Guyton, F. Guytonienne, 
F. Bygienique, &c. 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

Chlorine is obtained from chlorohydric or muriatic acid. For 
this purpose, one part of well pulverised peroxide of manganese 
with five or six parts of concentrated muriatic acid is put into 
a retort, to which heat is applied and the gas received over 
water. Or, it may be obtained from a mixture of one part of 
peroxide of manganese, four parts of kitchen salt, two parts of 
concentrated sulphuric acid, and four parts of water. 

Chlorine is a greenish-yellow gas ; of a peculiar, strong, dis- 
agreeable, stifling odour. The flame of a lighted taper intro- 
duced into it becomes at first pale, afterwards red, and is ulti- 
mately extinguished. It remains unchanged in the highest tem- 
peratures. It has a great affinity for hydrogen, so that it abstracts 



CHL0RINTJM. 147 

this gas from every substance that contains it, and forms with it 
chlorohydric acid. Hence it decomposes all the gases that con- 
tain hydrogen, and all organic colouring matters, as well as — 
it is conceived by many — miasmata and contagious matters. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Chlorine, when diluted, and received into the lungs, occasions 
coughing, and symptoms of suffocation, to which a protracted 
catarrh often succeeds : not unfrequently, too, we observe in 
those, who are compelled to be exposed to the gas, bronchitis, 
and pneumonia. Animals soon die when they are immersed 
in it.* 

In Mr. Broughton's experiments, mice exposed to it fell dead 
in less than thirty seconds. On opening them, the heart was 
found palpitating ; the peristaltic motion of the intestinal canal 
continued, and could be kept up by irritating it with a probe. 
The vessels of the brain were collapsed. The lungs were tinged 
with the yellow colour of the gas, and the peculiar odour of chlo- 
rine was perceptible throughout their structure. Coagulation 
of the blood took place as under ordinary circumstances. A 
rabbit, two or three weeks old, was immersed in chlorine, and 
died in less than half a minute. On opening the thorax, the 
heart was found acting freely, and on puncturing the aorta, the 
blood jetted out forcibly to a considerable distance. The peri- 
staltic motion of the bowels was also going on. The vessels of 
the brain were in a collapsed state. The lungs were very much 
distended, tinged yellow, and, when removed from the chest to 
a distance, emitted the odour of chlorine. The right ventricle 
of the heart was distended with dark blood. The eyes were 
much glazed in each experiment. " It has been generally 
thought," adds Mr. Bronghton, "that chlorine is incapable of 
passing the epiglottis" [the glottis], " but from the above obser- 
vations it is evident that this gas enters the bronchial tubes in 
the act of inspiration. A portion of it probably circulates through 
the brain, suspending the cerebral functions without directly de- 
stroying the action of the involuntary organs, — contractility 
remaining long after the destruction of animal life, as is evinced 
by the activity of the heart and of the intestinal canal. "t 

These very facts, however, seem to show, that but little of 
the gas enters the lungs; probably no more than what passes 
immediately preceding the closure of the glottis by the forcible 
contraction of the arytenoidei muscles. When inhaled in a dilute 
state, it is absorbed ; and, according to Mr. Wallace, the urine 

* See Christison on Poisons, 3d edit. p. 73G. Edinb. 183G. 
f Journal of the Royal Institution, from Jan. to June, 1830. 



14S CHLORINUM. 

acquires bleaching properties. It would appear, also, that, in 
manufactories, the chief consequences from exposure to an atmo- 
sphere of chlorine are acidity, and other stomach complaints, 
which the men generally remove by taking chalk :* this fact is 
confirmatory of the view, that acidity of the stomach is usually, 
if not always, dependent upon excess in the secretion of the 
gastric acids, the most important of which is the chlorohydric. 
When chlorine is inhaled, it is reasonable to suppose that more 
of this acid may be secreted in the stomach. 



METHOD OF EMPLOYING. 

1. By Inhalation. — In the way of inhalation, chlorine gas is 
never administered in a state of purity, but always diluted with 
atmospheric air ; often, too, it is united with watery vapour. 
Gannal affirms, that the workmen in a bleaching establishment, 
who suffered under diseases of the chest, were visibly improved, 
and ascribed the amelioration to the inhalation of air containing 
chlorine. He, therefore, instituted various experiments on con- 
sumptive individuals, from which good results, he conceived, 
followed. Sir James Murray! also mentions, that a friend of 
his had observed similar effects among his workmen who were 
exposed to the inhalation of watery vapour strongly impregnated 
with chlorine. The experiments, however, which were insti- 
tuted at La Charite, in Paris, on this mode of treating phthisis, 
Avere by no means encouraging ; and the same may be said of 
those at the Hotel Dieu of that city, instituted by Rullier.t In 
many cases, indeed, the disease appeared to be aggravated. 
Bayle, likewise, thought the inhalation of chlorine generally 
unfavourable, although he asserts that he cured a case of tuber- 
cular phthisis with it. Recently, it has been recommended by 
Cottereau. 

Professor Albers,§ of Bonn, who administered it repeatedly, 
and carefully watched its effects, conceives, that it acts as a stimu- 
lant when applied to the membrane, but that, when it gets into 
the blood, its effects are antiphlogistic ; and he is of opinion, that, 
when there is no haemoptysis, or violent local irritation present, 
chlorine inhalations may be used in diseases of the lungs and air- 
passages. Its stimulant effect gradually diminishes, and, after a 

* Pereira, Elements of Materia Medica, &c. 2d edit. i. 228, Lond. 1842 ; or 
Araer. edit, by Dr. Carson, Philad. 1843. 

f A Dissertation on the Influence of Heat, &c. Lond. 1829; cited in the 
Dublin Journal of Medical Science, for March, 1839, p. 96. 

\ See, also, Pereira, Op. cit. p. 229 ; and E. J. Coxe, Practical Treatise on 
Medical Inhalation, p. 83. Philad. 1841. 

§ Hannoversche Annalen, 1836, and Brit, and For. Med. Rev. for July, 
1837, p. 215. 



CHLORINUM. 149 

time, the mucous surfaces of the lung become less sensible to its 
exciting influence. In tubercles of the lung, in chronic catarrh, 
in chronic inflammation and ulceration of the bronchial mucous 
membrane, and in dilatation of the bronchi, he found it of no ser- 
vice, and, in most cases, it could not be borne, in consequence of 
the irritation it induced ; but its operation was very salutary in 
■pure ulceration of the lungs or vomica. It had always, however, 
to be administered cautiously and experimentally. 

Dr. Stokes always found chlorine inhalations prejudicial in 
phthisis, producing, in every case, increase of bronchial irritation, 
dyspepsia, and arrest of the pulmonary secretion. In his trials of 
the remedy in gangrene of the lungs* he found it decidedly bene- 
ficial, correcting the fcetor of the breath and expectoration, and, 
therefore, calculated to obviate not only the local but the consti- 
tutional symptoms. 

Sir James Clarkt is of opinion, that the inhalation of chlorine 
has only produced relief in persons whose lungs have been dis- 
eased to a very limited extent. Dr. A. T. ThomsonJ considers 
it " the best topical expectorant, and the most salutary excitant 
to the mucous membrane of the lungs that has yet been inhaled ;" 
and Dr. Christison§ affirms, that he has tried the practice repeat- 
edly; and although, like Dr. Elliotson, he has witnessed "such 
amelioration as he never saw before under the use of narcotics 
or any other means," he has not met with any instance where 
the amelioration was permanent. Such, likewise, has been the 
experience of the author. 

Dr. Pancoast informed the author, that a case of aphonia, 
occurring in a young lady, in which there was but little volun- 
tary power over the diaphragm, was cured by the inhalation of 
chlorine, after the galvanic plates and the electro-magnetic appa- 
ratus had been used in vain. 

Chlorine may be inhaled from a common dish or inhaling 
apparatus, by dropping any of the acids on a mixture of chlori- 
nated lime, so that the chlorine may be disengaged slowly ; but 
the best method of inhaling it, as well as iodine, is that recom- 
mended by Dr. Corrigan.|| He properly remarks, that, in order 
for inhalation to have a fair trial, it is requisite, first, That the 
apparatus should be simple in its construction, and easily kept in 
order. Secondly, That it should be capable of keeping up a 
supply of vapour for any length of time, and that the evolution 
of the vapour should be steady and easily regulated. Thirdly, 

* Dublin Hospital Reports, vol. v. 

f Treatise on Tubercular Phthisis, p. 84, Lond. 1834 ; also, Amer. edition, 
Philacl. 1835. 
X Elena, of Mat. Med. and Therap. 2d. edit. Lond. 1835. 
§ Dispensatory, p. 312. Edinb. 1842. 
|| Dublin Journal of Medical Science, March, 1839, p. 94. 
13* 



150 



CHLORINUM. 



That it should also furnish a sufficient supply of aqueous vapour 
to prevent any irritation of the larynx, or lining membrane of the 
air-tubes ; and, fourthly, and most important of all, that its em- 
ployment should entail neither trouble nor fatigue on the invalid. 
To fulfil these objects, Dr. Corrigan advises the apparatus re- 
presented in the figure beneath. It consists of a light open iron- 
wire frame, about eighteen inches high, at the bottom of which 
is a spirit lamp, A : at the proper height above it is an evapo- 
rating porcelain dish, about six inches in diameter, B : above 
this is a glass globe, C, with its neck downwards. In the neck 
of the globe is a cork, D, bored, and through the opening is 
drawn, moderately tight, a short plug of cotton wick, such as is 
used in a spirit lamp : in the glass globe at E, opposite the neck, 
is drilled a pin-hole, to allow air to pass in, according as the 
fluid within drops out through the neck. To use it, the porce- 
lain dish is filled with hot water, the spirit lamp is lighted, and 
as soon as the water in the dish has begun to boil, the glass 
globe containing chlorinated lime, (if this be the substance used,) 
is placed as in the illustration below. The rate, at which the 
fluid in the globe shall percolate the cotton wick and drop into 
the hot water beneath, is easily regulated. If it should not drop 
with sufficient rapidity, one or two of the threads of cotton may 
be removed. Should it drop too rapidly, this is corrected by 
pressing in the cork more tightly, or introducing one or two ad- 
ditional threads of wick. 




CHLORINUM. 151 

Eight ounces of a saturated solution of chlorinated lime may 
be poured into the glass globe ; and into the water of the porce- 
lain dish, two ounces of the dilute sulphuric acid of the phar- 
macopoeia. As the solution drops, the acid seizes on the lime, 
and the chlorine is evolved in connexion with aqueous vapour.* 

Chlorine is but little used in this form, and can only be adapted 
for cases in which the pathological condition of the bronchial 
mucous membrane, or neighbouring parts, requires the exhibi- 
tion of an excitant.t In this way, it may be occasionally ser- 
viceable in chronic bronchitis ; but its administration requires 
great caution. J In cases of poisoning by hydrocyanic acid, as 
well as by sulphuretted hydrogen, chlorine is a most efficacious 
agent. Chlorinated of lime may be used for this purpose. 

2. By Fumigation. — Fumigations of chlorine have been parti- 
cularly recommended by Dr. Wallace, of Dublin. § They appear 
to resemble, in their action, the nitrous and nitro-muriatic acid 
baths,|| and have been especially employed in liver diseases, un- 
accompanied by inflammation, but in which there is a disturb- 
ance of the biliary secretion. According to Wallace, fumigations 
of chlorine are more certain than ablutions and baths of nitro- 
muriatic acid, and they have the advantage, that their applica- 
tion subjects the patient to less inconvenience. The good effects 
of chlorine, in such cases, have likewise been tested by Zeise,1F 
in his bathing establishment at Altona. When chlorine is brought 
into contact with the skin, in this way, it soon occasions a prick- 
ing sensation ; increase of transpiration ; great afflux of fluids 
to the surface of the body, and sometimes a pustular eruption ; 
increased secretion of saliva, urine, and bile ; slight inflamma- 
tion of the mouth and fauces, and impeded respiration and cir- 
culation. 

Dr. Mettauer is disposed to refer the action of the compound, 
in every, case, to the presence of chlorine, and to believe with 
Dr. Scott, of India, who first introduced the nitro-muriatic acid 
to notice, about twenty-six years ago (1817), that a solution 

* Lond. Med. Gaz., April 6, 1839, p. 49. 

t Toulmouche, in Revue Medicale, Avril, 1834. See, on the various 
modes of inhalation, Sir C. Scudamore, in Lond. Med. Gaz. Feb. 7, 1840, 
and Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intel. April 15, 1840, p. 25; and E. J. Coxe, 
Practical Treatise on Inhalation. Philad. 1841. 

% Archives Generates, Avril, 1834 ; and a communication on the excel- 
lent effects of chlorine vapour in catarrh, in Gazette Medicale de Paris. June, 
1838. 

\ Researches respecting the Medical Powers of Chlorine, &c. Lond. 1822. 

|| See, on the Nitro-Muriatic Mixture, as a remedial agent, Dr. J. P. Met- 
tauer, Amer. Journ. Med. Sciences, Feb. 1840, p. 291. 

If Nye Hygea udgived af C. Otto, 1825, and Hufeland und Osann's Journ. 
der prakt. Heilkund. B. Ixiii. St. 1. 



152 CHLORINUM. 

of chlorine in water will answer, in all cases, as well as the 
acid. 

In the last edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the United States, 
the following formula has been introduced for the preparation of 
the Acidum Nitro-muriaticum. Take of Nitric acid, f.^iv., 
Muriatic acid, f.^viij. Mix them in a glass vessel, and, when 
effervescence has ceased, keep the product in a well stopped glass 
bottle, in a cool and dark place. 

Dr. Wallace found chlorine fumigations serviceable not only 
in hepatic diseases ivith disordered secretion of the liver, but in 
several other morbid conditions, as hypochondriasis, cachexia, 
and in all affections in which a prolonged excitation of the skin, 
and a restoration of its suppressed or impaired functions are 
esteemed serviceable, — hence, in old cases of syphilis, scrojihula, 
chronic catarrh, and rheumatism. Generally, cathartics were 
combined with the fumigations, and the evacuations were con- 
stantly observed to present a highly bilious character. 

In chronic cutaneous affections, as in lepra, psoriasis, and 
scabies, these fumigations have been found useful ; but, gene- 
rally, fumigations of sulphurous acid are employed by preference, 
in consequence of the greater facility with which they can be 
prepared.* 

Injections of chlorine gas have been employed for the radical 
cure of hydrocele by M. Deblois, of Tournay, and M. Deconde.t 
The chlorine gas is contained in a bladder, to which is attached 
a pipe and stopcock adapted to the canula of the trocar, into 
which it is fixed after the fluid is evacuated : the stopcock is then 
turned, and the bladder pressed so as to force the gas into the 
tunica vaginalis. When this is distended, the pipe and bladder 
are removed, and the thumb is placed over the mouth of the 
trocar, so as to prevent the issue of the gas for the space of two 
minutes ; it is then allowed to pass, and two or three repetitions 
of the injection are made, which are sufficient for the cure. It 
would appear, that risk must be incurred from the injection of 
such an acrid substance, but M. Deconde says not. 

Fumigations of chlorine, with the view of destroying the mat- 
ter of contagion, and of preventing the spread of contagious 
diseases, have long been used. J As long ago as the year 1773, 
they were proposed for these purposes ; and were subsequently 
extensively used by Guyton de Morveau ; hence they have been 
called the " Guytonian, or the " Guyton Morveau fumiga- 
tions." They are the best agents that we possess. 

* Green on Diseases of the Skin. Dunglison's American Library edit. 
Philad. 1838. 

f Bulletin Medical Beige, Janvier, 1836. 

X Link, Art. Chlor, in Encyclopad. Worterb. der medicin. Wissenschaft. B. 
vii. S. 575. Berlin, 1831. 



CHLORINI AQUA. 153 

In fumigating the extensive general penitentiary at Milbank, 
Westminster, Dr. Faraday adopted the following method. One 
part of common salt was intimately mixed with one part of 
black oxide of manganese ; the mixture was placed in a shallow 
earthen pan, and two parts of oil of vitriol, previously diluted 
with two parts by measure of ivater, were poured upon it, — 
the whole being stirred with a stick. Chlorine was liberated for 
four days. The quantities of the ingredients employed were 
700 pounds of common salt, the same quantity of the oxide of 
manganese, and 1400 pounds of sulphuric acid.* 

When chlorine is evolved in the manner described, it is liable, 
like all the acid gases, to the objection, that it is extremely irri- 
tating when respired. It cannot, therefore, be used in the sleep- 
ing apartments of the sick, although it may be employed bene- 
ficially after they have been withdrawn, and the object is to 
disinfect the chamber. It ruins all polished surfaces, but this 
can be effectually obviated by painting them over with a com- 
post of starch. The chlorides are not liable to the same amount 
of objection, as they exhale the chlorine slowly.t 



XLVII. CHLO'RINI AQUA. 



Synonymes. Aqua Chlorinii, A. Chlorinei, Solutio Chlorinii, Liquor Chlori, 
Aqua Chlori, Aqua Oxymuriatica, Liquor Acidi Muriatici Oxygenati, Aqua 
Oxygenata Muriatica, Aqua Oxygeno-Muriatica, Liquor Alexiterius Oxy- 
genatus, Solutio Alexiteria Oxygenata, Solution of Chlorine, Liquid Oxy- 
muriatic Acid. 

French, Chlore Liquide, Eau de Chlore. 

German. Chlorwasser. 

This preparation is contained in many of the pharmacopoeias. 
It is in those of Austria and Anvers ; and in the Batavian, Bava- 
rian, Belgian, Danish, Dublin, Edinburgh, Parisian, Finnish, 
Hanoverian, Polish, Prussian, and Swedish.J It has been more 
extensively administered on the continent of Europe than in this 
country, or in Great Britain. 

* Pereira, Op. cit. p. 228. 

t See the author's General Therapeutics, p. 509. Philad. 1836 ; and his 
General Therapeutics and Mat. Med. ii. 376. Philad. 1843. 
% Pharmacopcc Universelle, i. 405. Paris, 1828. 



154 CHL0RIXI AQUA. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

The Prussian Pharmacopoeia directs chlorine gas, made after 
the manner before described, to be passed into the bottles of a 
Woulfe's apparatus filled with distilled ivater, until two-thirds 
of the water are displaced : the bottles are corked under water, 
and the water is agitated until it takes up the gas. The liquid is 
then drawn off into small bottles, which are well filled, and kept 
in a dark place. In this way, liquid chlorine may be kept for a 
long time undecomposed. In its preparation, some little chloro- 
hydric acid is formed, so that it has at times to be purified by 
treating it with a solution of nitrate of silver. 

The process of the Dublin Pharmacopoeia is similar to this. 
That of the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia differs ; and is as fol- 
lows : — Take of Chloride of sodium, sixty grains ; Sulphuric acid 
(commercial), two fluid drains ; Red oxide of lead, three hundred 
and fifty grains : Watertight fluid ounces. Triturate the chlo- 
ride of sodium and oxide together ; put them into the water con- 
tained in a bottle with a glass stopper; add the acid, and agitate 
occasionally till the red oxide becomes almost white. Allow the 
insoluble matter to subside before using the liquid. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

From experiments made by Orfila* on dogs, it appears, that 
considerable doses of a moderately concentrated solution of chlo- 
rine prove fatal, by exciting sooner or later inflammation of the 
stomach, accompanied with great languor ; and when death 
takes place very rapidly, signs of organic alteration are met with 
in the stomach. In its action on the economy, chlorine is closely 
allied to the acids, and especially to the chlorohydric. Intro- 
duced into the stomach in moderate doses, solution of chlorine 
excites an agreeable feeling of warmth, which soon spreads over 
the whole of the body : in strong doses,according to L. W. Sachs, 
a kind of intoxicating stupor is induced by it, soon succeeded by 
prostration. It has been conceived to act equably as a moderate 
excitant of the nervous system, and thereby to moderate inordi- 
nate action in any part ; and is, to a certain extent, antiphlogistic, 
without possessing any of the debilitating qualities of the anti- 
phlogistics proper. In the opinion of some of the German pa- 
thologists, it powerfully stimulates the organic actions, especially 
the lymphatic and glandular systems, moderating inordinate 
secretion. Its antiseptic properties are likewise considerable. 

* Toxicologic Generate, i. 141. 



CHLORINI AQUA. 155 

It would appear, however, that the number of observations has 
not been sufficiently great — although they have been by no 
means few — to allow of any comprehensive appreciation of its 
exact modus operandi on the human organism.* 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

Although solution of chlorine is properly no new remedy, it 
is only of late years that it has been frequently administered. 
At the present day, in some countries, it is in common use. It 
is not long since Meurer maintained, that it is impossible to ad- 
minister chlorine internally, and that in every case in which it 
was believed to have been given, the article really taken was 
the chlorohydric or muriatic acid ; for, owing to the affinity of 
chlorine for hydrogen, whenever any union takes place between 
it and organic matters, the chlorine, he affirmed, disappears, and 
chlorohydric acid alone exists, as he had proved by repeated 
experiments. In this assertion, however, he was opposed by 
many observers. Herzog and Barmann came forward with ex* 
periments to show, that Meurer had gone too far in his deduc- 
tions ; and from all the experiments, it would appear, that in 
prescribing aqua chlorini many mistakes had been, and — we 
may add — still are, committed, From Barwald's experiments, 
it would appear, that if water which has rested on aromatic or 
other vegetable substances be chosen for the dilution of the solu- 
tion of chlorine instead of distilled water, a difference is produced 
in the rapidity of the decomposition. In a mixture of aqua 
chlorini, distilled water, and simple syrup, the decomposition 
takes place tardily ; but if, in place of syrup, a mucilaginous 
juice be substituted — for example, the syrupus althsese, — acids 
are speedily formed ; as well as when a decoction of althasa is 
substituted for distilled water ; whereas a mixture of the decoc- 
tion of salep, (gr. v. to water §j.) syrup, and aqua chlorini, in 
well stopped bottles, remained undecomposed above twenty-four 
hours. In these experiments, however, the persistence of the 
smell and taste of the chlorine exhibited, that the whole of the 
chlorine had not been converted into chlorohydric acid. In the 
same manner as in the case of the decoction of marshmallows, 
the addition of Infusum sennae and Infusum valerianic, as well 
as of the solutions of extracts, and especially of liquorice, de- 
stroyed the smell of the aqua chlorini instantaneously, even 
when the taste of chlorine could still be detected. When the 
solution was combined with remedial agents, that contained 
much colouring matter, the decomposition took place with great 

* Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, u s. w. S. 30. Stuttgart, 1837. 



156 CHLORINI AQUA. 

rapidity. From the results of these experiments, Barwald ad- 
vises aqua chlorini to be given in admixture with distilled water 
and simple syrup, as in this way only can we be sure, that the 
patient has taken the chlorine undecomposed. Herzog Jays it 
down as a rule, that the solution of chlorine should only be mixed 
with colourless transparent substances — water, simple syrup, 
gum arabic or decoction of salep. 

In respect to its administration in disease, it may be well to 
speak first of its internal use, which, in several morbid conditions, 
seems to have rendered good, and in some cases eminent, ser- 
vice. The following are the diseases in which it has been chiefly 
recommended. 

1. Irritative fever, as in the violent irritative fever that occurs 
during the period of dentition ; in which it has been administered 
with great success by Kopp, Mehlhausen, Goden, Trusen, and 
Riecke.* Dangerous determinations to the head have been, in 
this way, obviated, along with the unpleasant complications 
which are apt to be occasioned thereby. Toelt exhibited it in 
convulsions, during dentition, which were accompanied by too 
great activity of vessels; and he affirms, that he has prescribed 
no remedy, which, in all respects, answered so well. 

2. Nervous fever, especially when tending to the putrid cha- 
racter. In the plague, according to Wagner, it is of no avail ; 
but in put rid fever, according to Kopp, it is highly useful. Span- 
genberg observed good effects from it in an epidemic typhus with 
hepatic derangement. It is likewise extolled in typhus by Wolf, 
Braun, Hufeland, and others ; and by Sacco in the fever called 
petechial, — itself a typhus. Of late, it has been much used in 
Germany in typhus abdomiualis, which corresponds to our 
typhoid fever, to oppose the origin and development of the intes- 
tinal ulcerations ; but when the disease is farther advanced it 
has been found useless. It is especially recommended in this 
disease by Clemens, but he commonly premised the use of an 
emetic. Trusen considers the emetic unnecessary. He first ap- 
plies leeches to the epigastrium, and then prescribes immediately 
aqua chlorini in considerable doses ; — in lighter cases, a dram 
every two hours ; and if the disorder of the head be already 
great, the tongue chapped (rissig), and the peculiar expression 
of countenance present, he gives two drams every two hours. 
Bartels is less satisfied with the action of chlorine in abdominal 
typhus. It raises, he says, the sinking powers very speedily, 
but often excites the sanguiferous system, but not unfrequently 
increases the abdominal symptoms so palpably, that the physi- 
cian is compelled to have recourse to other agents. RieckeJ 

* Op. eit. S. 30. 

f Archiv. d. med. Erfahrung, Marz und April, 1825, 

i Op. cit. S. 33. 



CHL0R1NI AQUA. 157 

thinks, however, that it may be of essential service in this disease, 
which so frequently mocks the best directed efforts of the prac- 
titioner ; and he suggests, that farther experiments are highly 
desirable, especially as those instituted by Trusen and others are 
not free from objections, by reason of their having associated with 
chlorine substances that quickly decompose it. 

3. Carbunculus malignus {Milzbrandkarbunkel). — - In the 
variety of malignant anthrax caused by handling the skins of 
cattle, the internal and external use of chlorine has been found 
of essential service by Ettmuller, Herbst, Stumpf, and Hoffmann. 

4. Scarlatina. — Pfeufer, Wendt, Kopp, and Trusen extol it 
highly in this disease, for which, on theoretical grounds, it would 
seem to be appropriate, by reason of the great turmoil in the san- 
guiferous system, as indicated by rapidity of pulse and inordinate 
secretion of heat, bearing but little direct ratio to the degree of 
vital energy. Braithwaite, who, it is asserted, was one of the 
earliest, if not the earliest, that advised chlorine in scarlatina, 
supposed that it acted as specifically as the bark in intermittent, 
or mercury in syphilis ; and Trusen asserts, that it may be ad- 
vantageously used in cases where other remedies have been found 
ineffectual. It is especially recommended by Braun and Spiritus 
in malignant scarlatina. 

5. In other febrile affections, — small-pox, measles, rubeolas, 
&c, it has been prescribed with advantage. In putrid dysentery, 
(faulige Ruhr,) it is extolled by Nysten and Kopp ; and in inter- 
mittent, by Kopp and Kretschmar. Trusen recommends it in 
the irregular, and especially in the anticipating forms, where 
danger exists of their becoming continued. Under its use, he 
found the paroxysms became regular, with perfect apyrexia, so 
that the ordinary febrifuges could be given advantageously. In 
gastric fever, Trusen trusted to it solely for the removal of the 
disease : he found that it corrected the morbid secretions from the 
mucous membrane of the digestive tube. Other physicians have 
also derived equally favourable results from its administration in 
that disease. 

6. In gastromalacia, it has been prescribed by Rhades, Blasius, 
and Winter, but as Riecke,* from whom this detail of the expe- 
rience of the German practitioners has been chiefly taken, pro- 
perly observes, farther observation is necessary before we can 
decide as to its efficacy in such cases. 

7. In erysipelas, especially of children, it has been recom- 
mended by Kopp. 

8. In inflammation of the liver, favourable results were ob- 
tained from it in the Children's Hospital of St. Petersburg ; and 

* Op. cit. S. 34. 
14 



158 CHLORINI AQTJA. 

it exhibited, in these cases, the analogy to calomel in its action, 
which has been pointed out by many observers. 

9. In hydrophobia, it has been used both internally and exter- 
nally as a preventive, especially by the Italian physicians Brera, 
Previtali,* Ghisaldoni, Agliati, Arrigoni, Narcisi, and Anelli, 
whose experience is in its favour. Wendelstadt and Ruppius 
have likewise published favourably regarding it. It is obvious, 
however, that much fallacy may arise as to the precise agency 
of reputed preventives. Every one, for example, who maybe 
bitten by a mad dog is not attacked with hydrophobia ; and, un- 
less great caution be used, any article may be regarded as a 
preventive. This is the main reason, why we have so many 
preventives of hydrophobia and other diseases. 

10. Again: — the solution of chlorine has been advised by 
Ruppius and Mertzdorf in dropsy, especially such as supervenes 
on the acute exanthemata. 

11. In the diathesis phthisica, it has been recommended by 
Goden,and has been affirmed to moderate the hectic in phthisis, 
and to make the remissions more marked. In these cases, it re- 
quires to be given in large doses, and to be exhibited for a con- 
siderable time. 

12. In many cases of chronic cutaneous affections, with dimi- 
nished plastic energy, it has been used with success by Kopp. 

13. In noma or cancrum oris, and in fcetor of the mouth, 
it has been recommended internally as well as topically ; and, 
according to the experiments of Persoz, Nonat, and others, 
it renders eminent service in cases of poisoning by hydrocyanic 
acid. 

Externally, it is used either pure, diluted with water, or in 
combination with oil. Godier affirms, that he cured strumous 
swellings of the glands by a cerate of chlorine. Eisenmann, 
Cullerier, and Blache recommend it at times pure, at others 
diluted, in the way of injection, in gonorrhoea and leucorrhcea. 
It is employed, also, in flabby, putrid, and offensive ulcers, in 
carbunculus malignus, in chronic cutaneous affections, as tinea 
capitis, itch (Deimann), herpes (Alibert), cancrum oris, asthenic 
aphthse, &c. 

Lastly : ablution with a solution of chlorine, or of the chlorides, 
has been advised as a preventive of venereal infection. In can- 
cerous ulcers, it corrects the unpleasant odour, and excites anew 
action in the part ; causing the secretion of better pus : farther 
than this, we cannot expect much from it. Baths of chlorine 
are recommended by Wagner as an excellent means for pre- 
venting the plague. Schonlein advises that, in scarlatina, the 
whole surface of the body should be washed with a mixture of 

* Pratiche Osservazioni Ball' Idrofobia, &c. Milan, 1820. 



CHLORINI AQUA. 159 

aqua chlorini and water, which he prefers to ablution with cold 
water. 

Finally : — aqua chlorini is occasionally sprinkled in the sick 
chamber, to purify the atmosphere during the prevalence of con- 
tagious or other diseases. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

As already remarked, whenever aqua chlorini is prescribed, 
its facility of decomposition must be borne in mind. It is, for this 
reason, best to prescribe it with water only,* or at most with the 
addition of simple syrup, for internal administration. For exter- 
nal use, water alone should be associated with it. As to the 
precise mode in which chlorine is affected by fatty substances, 
we have as yet no accurate knowledge ; it may be calculated, 
however, that a part undergoes decomposition. Such combina- 
tions have, notwithstanding, been found very useful. 

The solution should never be prescribed in quantity larger than 
is necessary for twenty-four hours, as by frequently opening the 
vessel in which it is contained, decomposition readily ensues. 
The vessel should be put into a dark place, and be surrounded 
by black paper. 

The average dose for an adult, in the twenty-four hours, may 
be fixed at an ounce, although much larger doses may be given 
without inconvenience. It is scarcely necessary to say that the 
precise dose must vary with the degree of concentration. 

Unguent um chlorini. 
Ointment of chlorine. 

Unguentum oxygenatum ex tempore parandum. 

R. Aquae chlorin. p. j. 
Adipis, p. viij. M. 

Used in itch. Pharmacopoeia of Austria. 

Linimentum aqua; chlorini. 
Liniment of chlorine. 

R. Aquae chlorin. f # 3J. 
Olei olivae, f.gj. M. 

Externally, in obstinate itch, tinea capitis, and herpes. 

Deimann. 

* Lepage, Journ. de Chimie Mdd. cited in Encyclog. des Sciences Med. 
Janv. 1842, p. 22. 



160 CHONDRUS. 

R. Cerae albae, 3ij. 
Leni calor. liquef. adde 

01. amygdal. q. s. 
Ut fiat liniraentum cui refrig. adde 
Aq. chlorin. 5iss. M. 

Used externally in ulcers. Ludivig. 

Gargarisnia aquae chlorini. 

Gargle of chlorine. 

R. Tragac. pulv. gr. xij. 
Aquae, fjiv. 
Aquae chlorin. 
Syrup, aa. f.^ss. M. 

To be used as a gargle in ulceration and chronic inflamma- 
tion of the mouth and fauces. 

Ratier.* 



XLVIII. CHONDRUS. 

Stnonymes. Fucus Crispus, Lichen Carrageen, Chondrus Crispus, Sphaero- 
ooccus Crispus, Ulva Crispa, Chondrus Polymorphus, Irish Moss, Carra- 
geen or Corigeen Moss. 

French. Mousse d'Irlande, Mousse Perlee. 

German. Krauser Tang, Seetang. 

Although Carrageen or Irish moss has long been used in Ire- 
land, it was but little employed in other parts of Europe, or in 
this country, until within the last few years. Of late, it has been 
used precisely in those cases in which Lichen Islandicus or 
Iceland moss has been deemed appropriate. In Germany, the 
first trials were made with it in the year 1833, by Von Grafe of 
Berlin, and the results were given to the world in his report for 
that year,t of the Clinical, Surgical and Ophthalmic Institute, at- 
tached to the Frederick William University. 

Chondrus, which belongs to the Natural Family Algas, 
exists in the Atlantic Ocean, on the coasts of England, Ireland, 

* Forraulaire Pratique des Hopitaux Civils de Paris, 3me edition. Paris, 
1827. 

f Bericht iiber das klinische chir. augenarztliche Institut. der k. Friedr. 
Wilh. Univers. fur d. J. 1833. Bed. 1834. 



CH0NDRUS. 161 

western France, Spain, and Portugal, and as far as the tropics. 
It is also said to be a native of the United States. It is met with 
more abundantly, however, in Ireland, especially in Clare, where 
it is used by the poor as an article of diet. It is thrown on the 
shore by the waves, and is gathered at the time of the ebb.* 

Irish moss, when fresh, is purple-brown or purple-red, and 
somewhat resembles the Iceland moss ; but when dried, as we 
meet with it in commerce, it is mostly yellowish or dirty white, 
but intermixed with purplish-red particles, and resembles lamina? 
of horn : it is crisped, translucent, and frequently containing 
small shells, calcareous concretions, and grains of sand. It has 
not much taste ; the smell seems to betray iodine, which, how- 
ever, has not been detected in it. When the moss is chewed, it 
feels like so much cartilage, but, by the moisture and warmth of 
the mouth, it soon looses its brittleness. It contains a little 
chloride of sodium.t 

The jelly obtained from it is transparent and colourless ; its 
taste is by no means disagreeable : it keeps several days, and is 
not converted by muriatic acid into mucus, like the jelly which 
is obtained from land plants. It exists in the proportion of 79.1 
per cent., and has been considered to consist of pectin in large 
proportion, and starch ; but Dr. PereiraJ esteems it a peculiar 
principle, and gives it the name Carrageenin. It is easy ol 
digestion, is readily borne by weak and irritable stomachs, and 
exerts a soothing influence on the air-passages and the intestinal 
canal. 

In order to obtain it, the moss is cut small, carefully cleared 
from impurities, boiled with the selected vehicle, and strained. 
Von Grafe obtained, from nine ounces of milk boiled with half 
a dram of the moss, five ounces of jelly ; and as much from a 
dram and a half of the moss and twelve ounces of water. 
The formula, commonly used by him, is given below. To this 
jelly may be added any dietetic or remedial agent, which may 
be considered indicated in the particular case.§ 

Chondrus is in the secondary list of the Pharmacopoeia of the 
United States ; — cetraria in the primary ; but the assignment 
appears to be arbitrary, as one is perhaps as valuable an agent 
as the other. || 



* Pereira, Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, ii. 874. Lond. 
1842 ; or Amer. edit, by Dr. Carson, Philad. 1843. 

f E. Griife in Art. Fuous, Enoyolopad. Wbrterb. der medicinischen Wissen- 
schaft. xiii. S. 1. Berlin, 1835. 

X Op. cit. 

§ See L. Feuchtwanger, in Philad. Journ. of Pharm. vi. 204. Philad. 
1833-4. 

(| See the Author's General Therapeutics and Mat. Med. ii. 248. Philad. 
1843. 

14* 



162 CHONDRTTS. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Chondrus is used in the affections that are considered to be 
benefited by Iceland moss. As a diet, it is given in consumptive 
cases, and wherever there is erethism in the respiratory or di- 
gestive apparatus. It is sometimes prescribed in diarrhoea 
along with astringent or other remedies. The jelly has been ad- 
vised as a diet in scrophulous cases. Von Grafe affirms, that he 
has often found it serviceable in hoarseness, dry spasmodic covgh, 
consumption, diarrhoea, and dysentery : in the intestinal pain, 
which remains after inflammation and ulceration of these 
parts, and after poison has been taken; in diseases accompanied 
by much emaciation, and in the prostration ensuing on serious 
diseases and operations. In similar affections it has been ex- 
tolled by Hufeland.* On the other hand, Heyfelder affirms, that 
he, and many physicians of his acquaintance have used the moss 
without either good or evil results 'm phthisis, as well as in ere- 
thism of the respiratory and digestive organs ; and Riecket 
remarks, that as it makes a very agreeable jelly, when boiled 
with milk, and with the addition of a little of the aqua lauro- 
cerasi, it may do for cases where we must prescribe " ut fecisse 
aliquid videamur." 

The truth is, that it can render no more service than other 
substances, which contain a similar principle ; and, accordingly, 
but few prescribe it with any other view than as a demulcent 
and nutritious aliment, in cases where such is needed. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Decoctum chondri. 

Decoction of Irish moss. 

R. Chondri (elect, et concis.) Jss. 
Lact. recent, f.^ix. 
Coq. ad remanent, colatur. f-§v. 



Adde 



Sacchar. gss. ad 3J. 

Aq. amygdal. amar. concentr. ^i. 



To be taken in the course of the day. Von Griife. 

* Hufeland und Osann's Journ. der Practisch. Heilkund. B. 77, St. 5, 
p. 135. 
t Die neuern Arzneimittel. Stuttgart, 1837, S. 235. 






CIMICIFUGA. 163 

R. Chondr. (elect, et concis.) 3iss. 
Coq. cum aq. font, f.gxij. ad remanent, colat. f.|v. 
Syrup, rubi. idaei, f.Jjiss. ad f.§ij. 
Aq. amygd. amar. concentr. 9j. 

To be used through the day. When employed as diet, Von 
Grafe allows from ten to eighteen ounces of the jelly in the day. 

R. Chondr. (elect, et concis.) Jss. 
Coque cum aq. font. q. s. ad reman, f.^vj. 
Colatur. adde 

Sodse phosphat. 2>iss. 

Syrup opii, f.Jij. ad f.^iij. 

Dose. — A spoonful every two hours in cases of hsemoptysis, 
between the attacks. Clarus. 

R. Lactis, f.^xxiv. 

Chondr. (elect, et concis.) ^iv. 
Sacch. |j. 
Cinnam. cont. 9j. 
Coque per minut. x. leni igne ; flltr. et exprime. 

Biral. 

R. Chondr. (elect, et concis.) Jij. 

Coque cum lactis Oj. ad consist, gelatin. 
Tere cum 

Sacch. gij. 

Amygdal. amar. No. 2. 

To be used in the course of the day, and daily. 

Hvfeland. 



XLIX. CIMICIF'UGA. 

Svnonymes. Cimicifuga Racemosa, C. Serpentaria, Actsea Racemosa, Ma- 

crotrys Racemosa, Black Snake-root, Cohosh, Bugbane, Cohort. 
French. Act<-e, Ilerbe Saint Christophe. 
German. Traubenformiges Christophskraut. 

This plant is a native of the United States, growing in shady 
and rocky woods from Canada to Florida. Sexual System, 
Polyandria Di-Pentagynia ; Natural Order, Ranunculacese. 
The root is the part used in medicine. It yields its virtues to 
boiling water, and was found by Mr. Tilghman, of Philadelphia, 



164 CIMICIFUGA. 

to contain gum, starch, sugar, resin, wax, fatty matter, tannin, 
and gallic acid, a black colouring matter, a green colouring 
matter, lignin, and salts of potassa, lime, magnesia, and iron.* 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Cimicifuga belongs to the class of Acro-narcotics. Until re- 
cently, it is said to have been employed chiefly in domestic prac- 
tice, as a remedy in rheumatism, dropsy, hysteria, and in various 
affections of the lungs, especially such as resemble consumption.! 
It is noticed here, however, chiefly in consequence of the enco- 
miums that have been passed upon it, of late, as a remedy in 
chorea. 

Several cases of this disease, reported by Dr. Jesse Young to 
have been cured, were published some years ago ; and at the 
same time it was stated, that Dr. Physick had known it prove 
successful in several instances. J Dr. Wood§ also states, that 
he administered it in a case of chorea, which rapidly recovered 
under its use, after the failure of purgatives and metallic tonics. 
He also remarks, that he had derived the happiest effects from 
it in a case of convulsions, occurring periodically, and connected 
with uterine disorder. More recently, Dr. T. S. Kirkbride,|| has 
published some cases of success, obtained in the same disease, 
from its administration ; after free purging had been employed. 
In one successful case, in a girl, nine years old, whose mental 
faculties were much disordered ; and who had lost nearly all 
power over both her left extremities, — there being, at the same 
time, irregularity of the bowels, headache, and pain frequently 
shooting down the left arm, cups were applied to the back of 
the head and neck once ; stimulating pediluvia were prescribed, 
with friction with salt over the surface of the body, and she 
was moderately purged every day for a week before the Cimi- 
cifuga was begun with. Dr. Kirkbride refers to a very intract- 
able case, that fell under the care of Dr. Otto, and that yielded 
ultimately to the Cimicifuga. He always purges before he has 
recourse to it, and general frictions with salt or the flesh-brush, 
and pustulation with Croton oil over the spine, he believes to be 
of much value in chronic cases. 

Dr. Beadlel of New York treated a case successfully in a girl 

* Journal of Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, vi. 20; and Dr. Wood, in 
Dispensatory of the United States, by Drs. Wood and Bache, Art. Cimi- 
cifuga. 

f Dr. F. J. Garden, Amer. Med. Recorder, Oct. 1823. 

% Amer. Journ. of the Med. Sciences, ix. 310. 

§ Op. citat. 

II American Journal of the Medical Sciences, February, 1840, p. 289. 

If New York Journal of Medicine and Surgery, July, 1840, p. 191. See, 



CIMICIFUGA. 165 

eighteen years of age. There was considerable gastric derange- 
ment, with suppression of the catamenia for nearly five months, 
from pregnancy. She was put upon the use of Cimicifuga,five 
grains of the powder being given every three hours, and no 
other remedy except an occasional dose of sulphate of magnesia. 
There was little improvement in her condition during the day, 
for nearly a week, after which she improved rapidly and was 
well in three weeks. The medicine produced no sensible effect. 

Allusion has been made to the employment of Cimicifuga in 
popular practice, in cases of rheumatism. Like other narcotico- 
acrids, when pushed, so as to produce catharsis and even slight 
narcosis, it may unquestionably be of service in acute forms of 
the disease.* In some parts of the country, it has become a 
very popular remedy in coughs ; and Dr. E. G. Wheelert affirms, 
that he has found it useful in several cases of severe and pro- 
tracted cough ; and especially in the chronic cough or bronchitis 
of old people. 

Dr. Wheeler states farther, that by some eminent physicians, 
it has been thought to be a good substitute for ergot in partu- 
rition, being dissimilar, however, in its mode of action, — relax- 
ing the parts and thereby rendering labour short and easy ; 
which requires confirmation. 

Recently, it has been advised by Dr. C. C. HildrethJ " in 
acute phthisis, uncomplicated with much inflammation in the 
vesicular structure, or pulmonary mucous or serous membranes;" 
who states, that he has " often seen the most prompt action of 
the decoction alone, in throwing off febrile excitement or the 
hectic paroxysm, allaying cough, reducing the rapidity and force 
of the pulse, and inducing gentle perspiration." " In those 
intercurrent congestions and inflammations, so frequent in the 
second and third stages of phthisis, from atmospheric exposures," 
he states, that he has " often seen the same happy influence ex- 
erted ;" but the testimony in regard to its beneficial action in 
these cases is certainly wanting in precision. § 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The dried root of cimicifuga may be given in powder. Dr. 
Kirkbride administered it in the dose of a tea-spoonful ; and Dr. 

also, Dr. C. C. Ilildreth, Amer. Journ. of the Med. Scienc. Jan. 1843, p. 31 ; 
and Dr. F. J. Garden, Ibid. p. 247. 

* Drs. E. A. Anderson, and Alexander Vedder, in Dunglison's American 
Medical Intelligencer, vol. ii . p. 29G. Philadelphia, 1839. Also, Boston 
Medical and Surgical Journal, Oct. 2, 1839, p. 126. 

f Boston Med. and Surg. Journal, Sept. 4, 1839, p. 65. 

X Amer. Journ. of the Med. Sciences, Oct. 1812, p. 288. 

{ See the Author's General Therapeutics and Mat. Med. ii. 195. Philad. 
1843. 



166 CINCHONIA. 

Wheeler in the dose of 3j. from three to five times a day. It is 
most commonly, however, given in the form of the 

Decoctum cimicifngae. 

Decoction of black snake-root. 

R. Cimicifug. contus. 5J. 
Coque paulisper in 
Aquae, Oj. 

Dose. — One or two fluid ounces — two to four table-spoon- 
fuls — several times a day. 

Tinctura cimicifugrc. 

Tincture of black snake-root. 

R. Cimicifug. contus. §iv. 
Alcohol (.835), Oj. 

Dose. — Twenty drops three or four times a day. An idea 
prevails that the stronger the alcohol the better is the prepara- 
tion, but this may be questioned. 



L. CINCHONIA. 

Synonymes. Cinchonina, Cinchoninum, Cinchonin, Cinchonine. 

Although Duncan, of Edinburgh, Reuss, of Moscow, and 
Gomez,* of Lisbon, had endeavoured to separate the active prin- 
ciple of the cinchonas, and had given the term cinchonine to a 
resinous extract obtained in their investigations, the honour of 
discovering both cinchonia and quinia, and of applying them to 
practical purposes belongs to the French chemists — Pelletier and 
Caventou.t 

Cinchonia is commonly obtained from the gray or pale varie- 

* Richter's Specielle Therapie, B. x. S. 325. Berlin, 1828 ; and Magendie's 
Formulaire. 
f Annales de Chimie et de Physique, xv. 289 and 337. 



CINCHONIA. 167 

ties of cinchona ; the yellow furnishing the quinia, and the red 
both cinchonia and quinia. It is an alkaloid strikingly analo- 
gous to quinia in its chemical and medical relations, but is not 
as much used. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Cinchonia is obtained by boiling cinchona in alcohol, until it 
loses all its bitterness ; the alcoholic solution is then evaporated 
to dryness in a water bath ; the extract, thus obtained, is dissolved 
in boiling water, strongly acidulated with muriatic acid ; an 
excess of calcined magnesia is added, which, after a few minutes' 
boiling, will fix all the red colouring matter, and render the liquid 
clear. When cold, the liquid is filtered, and the magnesian pre- 
cipitate washed with cold water ; it is then dried in a stove, and 
all the bitterness separated by repeated digestions in boiling 
alcohol ; the alcoholic liquors are mixed, and the cinchonia 
crystallises as the fluid cools. Cinchonia, thus obtained, still 
contains a green fatty matter, which may be separated by solu- 
tion in a very weak acid. If the acid be too strong, it will dis- 
solve a part of the fatty matter, and the intended object will be 
thus defeated.* 

Cinchonia may also be obtained by treating pulverised pale 
cinchona by weak sulphuric acid, precipitating the solution by 
means of lime in excess ; collecting the precipitate on a filter, 
washing, and treating it, after drying, with boiling alcoholA 

Cinchonia is white, translucent, crystallising in needles ; re- 
quiring, for its solution, 700 parts of cold water, according to 
Magendie ; according to others, 2500 parts of boiling water. On 
account of its very sparing solubility in water it has but a slightly 
bitter taste. In alcohol, it is readily soluble, and the solution is 
extremely bitter, as well as the salts formed by its union with 
acids, which resemble the salts of quinia. It does not dissolve 
readily in fixed or volatile oils, or in ether. At a certain tem- 
perature, it volatilises ; a great part, indeed, is destroyed by the 
operation, yet a sensible portion escapes the decomposing power 
of the caloric. 

In medicine, pure cinchonia, as well as the sulphate and ace- 
tate, is prescribed. The sulphate is soluble in 54 parts of water, 
and in 6.5 parts of alcohol (s. g. 0.S15) : it is not soluble in ether. 
It forms crystals and tastes bitter. The acetate, on the other 
hand, does not crystallise; and is less soluble in water than the 
sulphate ; but an excess of acid facilitates the solution. 

* Magendie, Formulaire, &c. 

t Pbarmacopce Universelle, i. 414. Paris, 1828. 



.68 CINCHONIA. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

It is not necessary to say much on the application of cinchonia 
and its preparations to disease, as they have been almost wholly 
superseded by quinia and its salts. It is a weaker article, and 
therefore requires to be given in larger doses • Magendie and 
Gittermann assert, that it. has been found ineffective as an anti- 
periodic. Bally,* Chomel,t Mariani,J Wutzer,§ and others, 
however, have exhibited it successfully. || DufresnelT frequently 
prescribed it, and he assigns it this claim to preference, that it is 
almost tasteless, or at least that the bitter taste is but tardily 
developed ; and that it need not be given in combination with 
acids, as the acid contained in the gastric secretions will render 
it soluble.** He gave it in intermittents, during the apyrexia, 
in the quantity of from six to twenty grains, and he found it of 
marked use in the cases of gastralgia with formation of acid, 
which are so often met with in young females, and are not un- 
frequently associated with leucorrhcea, hypochondriasis, melan- 
choly, &c. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The following formulas have been recommended, but, as was 
before remarked, they are rarely used, the preparations of qui- 
nia being now almost universally prescribed. 

Syrupus cinchonia;. 

Syrup of cinchonia. 

R. Cinchoniae sulphat. gr. xlviii. 
Syrup. Oj. 

Used in the same cases as the Syrupus quinix ; a table- 
spoonful for a dose. Magendie. 

* Nouv. Biblioth. Medicale, ix. 189. 

f Nouv. Journ. de Medecine, Mars, 1821. 

X Osservaz. sulla Pratica del Solfato de Cinconina, &c. 

§ Rust und Casper's Krit. Repert. B. xxi. and Bulletin des Sciences Medic. 
Sept. 1827. 

|| Art. Cinchonine, in Merat and De Lens, Diet de Mat. Med. 

]f Bibliotheque Universelle, Mai, 1831, p. 89. 

** See, also, Ganz, in Bulletino delle Scienze Mediche di Bologna, Agosto 
et Settembre, 1836, p. 121. 



CINCHONIA. 169 

I 

Yinnm cinchoniae. 
Wine of cinchonia. 



R. Cinchoniae sulphat. gr. xviij. 
Vini Maderens. Oij. 

Tinctura cinchoniae. 

R. Cinchoniae sulphat. gr. ix. 

Alcohol (34° or s. g. .847), f.gj. M. 



Magendie. 



Magendie. 



Magendie recommends, that this tincture should be used for 
preparing, extemporaneously, the wine of cinchonia, by adding 
two ounces of the tincture to a pint of Madeira wine. 

Boli cinchonia;. 

Boluses of cinchonia. 

Boli antifebriles. 

Febrifuge boluses. 

R. Cinchoniae sulphat. gr. iij. 
Micee panis, 
Mellis, 
Glycyrrhiz. aa. q. s. ut fiat bolus. 

Dose. — One, every two hours. Brera* 

Mistnra cinchoniae. 

Mixture of cinchonia. 

R. Cinchoniae sulphat. gr. vi. ad xlviij. 
Potassae acetat. 
Sacchar. aa. ^ss. 
Solve in 

Aqum anthemid. 3VJ. 

Dose. — A table-spoonful every two hours, in intermittent. 

Sundelin. 

* Ricettario Clinico di Brera. Padov. 1825. 
15 



170 



LI. CODEIA. 

Svnonymes. Codeina, Codeinum, Codeine. 
German. Kodein. 

Although opium had been repeatedly examined by the che- 
mists, and certain of its active constituents separated from it, it 
was not until within the last few years, that the article, whose 
name is at the head of this paragraph, had been obtained from 
it. It was discovered by Robiquet in 1832,* and as it has been 
exhibited as a therapeutical agent, it requires notice. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

According to Winkler,t this new alkaloid may be prepared in 
the following manner. Morphia is first thrown down from a 
solution of opium, made in the cold, by means of ammonia ; the 
meconic acid is precipitated by the chloride of calcium ; for the 
removal of the colouring matter, the fluid is then treated with 
the extract or subacetate of lead ; and the extract of lead con- 
tained in the fluid poured off from the precipitates, is afterwards 
decomposed by sulphuric acid ; the fluid, separated from the 
sulphate of lead, is now treated with an excess of caustic alkali ; 
the mixture is exposed to the air until the excess of free alkali 
has attracted carbonic acid from it : it is then agitated and 
digested with ether, and left to evaporate spontaneously, after 
which a yellowish, highly transparent, but not crystalline com- 
pound remains, which forms with muriatic acid a crystalline salt, 
and resembles exactly the codeia of Robiquet. 

MerckJ procures codeia in a very simple manner, He treats 
morphia, precipitated by soda, with cold alcohol; the spirituous 
tincture is carefully saturated with sulphuric acid ; the alcohol 
drawn off, and the residue treated with cold water as long as it 
is turbid ; it is then filtered, and the filtered liquid evaporated 
until it has the consistence of syrup : on cooling, ether is poured 
over it in a large flask ; caustic alkali is added in excess, and 
the whole strongly agitated. The ethereal mixture is then so 
saturated, that codeia crystallises from it in a few hours. By 

* Journal de Pharmacie, xix. 91 and 162. Paris, 1833. 

f Buchner's Report, xlv. p. 459, cited in Journal de Pharmacie, xxi. 251. 
Paris, 1835. 

X Journal de Pharmacie, cited in Amer. Journal of Pharmacy, new series, i. 
171. Philad. 1835. 






CODEIA. 171 

evaporating the ether, and treating the residue with alcohol, the 
codeia is obtained, by degrees, wholly pure, and separated from 
an oily matter, which is a great obstacle to crystallisation. 

Codeia, according to Pelletier, consists of 31 parts of carbon; 40 
parts of hydrogen ; 5 parts of oxygen, and 2 of azote. It is an 
alkaloid, soluble in water, alcohol and ether ; but not so in alka- 
line solutions. It unites readily with acids, and, with the chlo- 
rohydric especially, forms a salt, which crystallizes with great 
facility. When the crystals of codeia are heated on a plate of 
platinum, they burn with a flame without leaving any residue. 
Heated in a tube, they melt at about 150° centigrade ; and, if 
allowed to cool immediately, they form a crystalline mass •, if, 
however, the heat be continued, the oleaginous fluid rises along 
the sides of the tube, appearing to shun the heat; but it does 
not volatilise. When dissolved in water, codeia communicates 
to it decidedly alkaline properties. 1000 parts of water at 60° 
Fahrenheit, dissolve 12.6 parts of codeia; the same quantity at 
100°, 37 parts, and at 212°, 58. 8 parts. If more codeia be added 
to boiling water than can be taken up, the surplus melts, and 
forms, like meconin, an oleaginous layer on the bottom of the 
vessel. This aqueous solution, by careful refrigeration, affords 
a translucent and uncommonly well defined metal. The tinc- 
ture of galls forms a copious precipitate with a solution of codeia, 
in which respect, the latter differs essentially from morphia, as 
it does in many other of its properties. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

As morphia does not represent the whole of the activity of 
opium, Robiquet concluded, that other substances might concur 
thereto, and he conjectured that codeia might be one of those. 
Under this idea, Kunkel* instituted experiments with it on rab- 
bits and dogs, from which he obtained the following results. 
First. Codeia differs from morphia in this, that it does not, 
like the latter, paralyse the lower extremities. Secondly. Codeia 
appears to exert a powerfully excitant action. It occasions con- 
vulsions of the limbs, and of the muscles of the neck, and when 
it produces death, this seems to be owing to its action on the 
cerebellum and medulla oblongata ; twice, he noticed symptoms 
of backward progression under its use, and those parts after death 
were found turgid witli blood. To judge from the condition of 
the heart and lungs it affects likewise the circulatory organs. It 
occasions inflammation of the tissues, with which it comes in 
immediate contact. Its action is more energetic, when intro- 

* Journal deChirnie Mcdicalc, ix. 223. 



172 CODEIA. 

duced into the cellular membrane, than into the stomach. It 
seems, also, to exhibit a special action on the urinary organs, 
for. animals to which it is given never evacuate their bladder as 
long as they are under its influence. Thirdly. The action of 
codeia differs from that of the watery extract of opium, in not 
paralysing the hinder extremities ; but it approximates it in this, 
that it acts, as has been said, more powerfully when introduced 
iuto the cellular membrane than into the stomach, and accele- 
rates respiration and circulation. 

Kunkel, however, remarks upon the results of his experiments, 
that they demand repeated trials for confirmation, as he was only 
able to experiment with a very small quantity of the substance. 
Robiquet observes, that Kunkel's experiments have led to the 
inference, that when codeia is combined with acids, it loses much 
of its efficacy — the very opposite, by the way, to the inferences 
of Magendie. 

Barbier* has taken considerable pains to fix the value of codeia 
as a remedial agent. He prescribed it in the dose of one or 
two grains in a syrup, prepared with the aqueous solution of the 
alkaloid, of such strength, that a table-spoonful or half an ounce 
contained one grain of codeia. In his opinion, it exerts a pecu- 
liar agency on the nerves of the ganglionic system, whilst it ap- 
pears to possess but little influence on the hemispheres of the brain, 
and to make no impression upon the spinal marrow. In the epi- 
gastric region, he remarks, the agency of codeia is powerfully 
manifested ; and here in the centre of the ganglionic system, its 
effects may be investigated, and their extent and magnitude ap- 
preciated. If a spoonful, or, at an interval of from one to two 
hours, two spoonfuls of the syrup of codeia be administered to 
one affected with the symptoms to be described immediately, 
it will be found, that it exhibits a considerable"and remarkable 
effect upon the economy. If the person complain of pain in 
the epigastric region, beneath the lower extremity of the ster- 
num, and stretching to the sides and back ; and if, with these 
symptoms, there is combined a feeling of heat, with indescribable 
anxiety, marked debility, paleness, decided alteration of the fea- 
tures ; a sense of painful traction sometimes on one side, at others 
on the other of the epigastric region, with tendency to syn- 
cope, frequent sighing, despondency, and more or less sensibility 
to pressure in the epigastric region, &c, Barbier considers the 
seat of the disease to be the epigastric nervous plexus ; and in 
such cases, he says, he has found no remedy superior to syrup 
of codeia. He has observed it afford decided relief, where the 
coats of the stomach were manifestly in a state of degeneration. 
A common effect of codeia is sleep; which is never accompanied 
by heaviness of the head, or by determination of blood to the 

* Gazette Medicale, Mars 8, 1834. 



CODEIA. 173 

brain. When the persons awake from the sleep produced by 
it, the countenance is bright and lively, and there is a ten- 
dency to laughter. Barbier was led to believe, that it does not 
affect the nervous cords connected with the vertebral portions 
of the centre of the nervous system. In his observations at the 
hospital of Amiens, he often noticed the neuralgic affection of 
the abdomen above mentioned to be accompanied by pains in 
the head, loins, and limbs, and whilst codeia relieved the abdo- 
minal uneasiness, it left the others untouched, — a singular cir- 
cumstance if true, but requiring fresh observation before we can 
esteem it to be established. He remarks farther, that almost all 
the patients that were benefited by codeia had used laudanum 
unsuccessfully., Codeia, he adds, occasions no manifest change 
in the circulation and respiration ; it does not disturb the diges- 
tive function ; seems merely to diminish the feeling of hunger, 
and occasions no constipation. During its use, itching of the 
surface is frequently experienced. When applied, to the skin, it 
induces no striking phenomena. When placed, in the quantity 
of two grains, on a surface abraded by a blister, it excites a 
painful sensation of burning, without any other change appear- 
ing to supervene; — the neuralgic pains, for the removal of 
which it may have been thus employed, not appearing to be 
modified by it. 

Dr. W. Gregory made experiments upon himself and some of 
his pupils with nitrate of codeia. None of them experienced 
any effect from a dose of three grains and under ; from four to 
six grains, however, occasioned striking symptoms — quickness 
of pulse, sense of heat in the head and face, remarkable excite- 
ment, like that following the use of intoxicating liquors ; agree- 
able, and apparently permanent, stimulation, accompanied by 
considerable itching, which began at the head and extended over 
the whole body. To this succeeded, in the course of a few 
hours, a disagreeable sense of relaxation, with nausea, and often 
vomiting. None of the experimenters felt the slightest inclina- 
tion to sleep, until after the supervention of the feeling of relaxa- 
tion. Riecke* thinks that these experiments confirm Kunkel's 
observations, that codeia loses its efficacy when combined with 
acids. 

In the year 1834, M. Martin Solon, at one of the sittings of 
the Acadcinie Royale de Medecine, when the experiments of 
Barbier with codeia were the subject of discussion, confirmed 
his views regarding its soporific property. It appeared to him 
to allay the cough of the consumptive. He remarked, however, 
that he had not observed the effects on the ganglionic nervous 
system, which Barbier had witnessed. 

* Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. S. 140. Stuttgart, 1837. 
15* 



174 CODEIA. 

Magendie* took a grain of codeia, dissolved it in a little water, 
and injected it into the jugular vein of a middle-sized dog, which 
was immediately thrown into profound sleep — readily broken, 
however, by any strong noise made in the vicinity of the animal ; 
but the interruption was of brief duration, — sleep soon recur- 
ring. This condition persisted for several hours without being 
accompanied by any unpleasant symptoms. The effect was not 
the same with the muriate of codeia, a single grain of this salt, 
introduced in the same manner into the organism, suddenly in- 
duced deep sleep ; but, after the animal had slept five or six hours, 
it died. Several similar experiments afforded a like result. 
Magendie administered codeia in the Hotel Dieu to different 
patients. He found that* r one grain, given once or twice, suc- 
ceeded, in many cases, in inducing a quiet and soft, sleep, to 
which no confusion succeeded the next day, as is commonly the 
case with morphia. As respects intensity of action, he com- 
pares one grain of codeia to half a grain of morphia. Two 
grains often excited nausea, and even vomiting. Magendie 
found the muriate to be decidedly stronger than pure codeia. 
Two grains commonly induced, besides sleep, vertigo, nausea, 
and even vomiting ; but this dose succeeded like a charm, in 
cases of neuralgia faciei and in sciatica, that had resisted the 
most valued agents.! 

Dr. Miranda, of the Havana, has published^ the results of his 
experience with codeia in what he calls powerful nervous irri- 
tations of the mucous membrane of the stomach, and he affirms, 
that he cured eleven cases by the syrup of codeia alone. He 
began with a dram of the syrup night and morning, and gra- 
dually increased the quantity to an ounce in the twenty-four 
hours. His success was so striking that he is induced to " re- 
gard the discovery of codeia to be fortunate for humanity, espe- 
cially in climates like that of the Havana, in which gastrites 
are so multiplied." 

Syrupus eodeiae. 
Syrup of codeia. 

This is directed by M. Cap§ to be prepared in the following 
manner : — 

R. Codeiae, gr. xxiv. 
Aquae destillat. f.3iv. 
Sacchar. 3*viij. 
Reduce the codeia to an impalpable powder in a glass or por- 

* Formulaire pour la preparation et l'emploi deplusieura nouveaux medica- 
ment Edit. 9me. Paris, 1836. 
f Gully's Translation of the 8th edit, of Magendie's Formulaire. Lond. 1835. 
X Journal de Pharmacie, xxiv. 145. Paris, 1838. 
§ Ibid, xxiii. 418. Paris, 1837. 



COLCHICUM. 175 

celain mortar. Triturate with one-third of the water, allow it 
to settle and decant. Treat the residuum with another third of 
the water, and again with the remainder. Put the whole into 
a small mattrass, covering the opening with a piece of moistened 
parchment perforated with a pinhole. Heat in a water bath 
until the codeia has entirely disappeared. Remove the mattrass 
from the fire to add the sugar ; cover the opening again ; agitate, 
and put the vessel again in the bath, until the sugar is completely- 
dissolved. 

Each ounce of the syrup contains two grains of codeia. 

The muriate has been used in this city, but it has not been 
found to possess any virtues which the salts of morphia do not ; 
whilst its price has been enormous — as much, we are in- 
formed, as four dollars the dram. 



L1I. COL'CHICUM. 

Synonymes. Colchicum Autumnale, Meadow saffron. 

French. Colchique, Tue-Chien, Mort aux Chiens, Safran des Pres, Safran 

Batard, Vieillotte. 
German. Herbstzeitlose, Zeitlose, Wiesensafran, Herbstblume. 

Meadow saffron is a well-known plant in the temperate parts of 
Europe, where it grows wild in moist meadows. It belongs to the 
Family Colchicacese ; Melanthaceae {Lindley) ; and to Sexual 
System Hexandria Trigynia. The plant is avoided by cattle ; 
and its active poisonous properties have been long known ; fatal 
cases, indeed, still occur every now and then from its employ- 
ment, not only in animals, but in consequence of its too free use 
in the treatment of gout. Reynolds, the inventor of the wine of 
Colchicum, commonly called " Reynold's Specific," is said to 
have killed himself by an overdose of it. A case is given of a 
man who took, by mistake, an ounce and a half of the tincture, 
and died in forty-eight hours, after suffering much from vomit- 
ing, acute pain in the stomach, colic, purging, and delirium. 1 
The cases of two children are also on record, who were poisoned 
by a handful of the seeds, and who died in the course of the day, 
death being preceded by violent vomiting and purging. In the 
bodies of these children, considerable redness of the mucous coat 



Bdin. Med. and Surg. Journal, xiv. 262. 



176 COLCHICUM. 

of the stomach and small intestines was found ; in other cases, no 
morbid appearance has been detected.* 

A fatal case has been published by Dr. Blumhardt, from 
the papers of Dr. Neubrandt. The patient, a man aged thirty- 
two, took by mistake a decoction made of a large table- 
spoonful of the seeds of Colchicum to three pints of water. He 
was soon afterwards attacked by vomiting, purging, and died 
two days afterwards under symptoms of narcosis and endo- 
enteritis. 

Another fatal case, which was caused by the leaves of the 
Colchicum,! is referred to, in the same journal 4 

Colchicum is not of modern introduction. It is, indeed, the 
Hermodactyl of the ancients. It had, however, almost wholly 
fallen into neglect, when its use was revived in Great Britain, 
in the first quarter of the present century, as an excellent agent 
in rheumatic and gouty affections. That it is highly esteemed 
as a therapeutical agent is shown by the number of officinal works 
into which it has been admitted. Amongst others, it is in the 
Pharmacopoeias of the United States, Austria, Amsterdam, and 
Anvers, and in the Batavian, Belgic, Brunswick, Danish, Dublin, 
Spanish, Edinburgh, Paris, Ferrara, Geneva, Hamburg, Hano- 
verian, London, Lisbon, Russian, Saxon, Swedish, and Wir- 
temberg. 

Several chemists have investigated the composition of the plant. 
Pelletier and Caventou believed, that they had found veratria in 
it ; but, from the examination of Geiger and Hesse, it appears 
that the alkaloid, discovered by those gentlemen, was not vera- 
tria, but apeculiarprinciple, colchicia or colchicine, which is found 
in every part of the plant ; crystallises in slender needles, is in- 
odorous, and of a very bitter, and afterwards biting taste. In- 
troduced into the nose, it does not occasion sneezing like veratria. 
It has a feeble alkaline reaction ; but neutralises acids com- 
pletely, and forms with them crystallisable salts, which have 
also a bitter pungent taste. It dissolves with tolerable facility 
in water. 

For therapeutical purposes, the root or bulb, {cormus,) as 
well as the flowers and seeds have been administered. The 
fresh root has a somewhat disagreeable smell, and a bitterish 
acrid taste. When chewed for any length of time, it excites the 
secretion of saliva and thirst ; destroys the sense of feeling in 
the tongue ; causes a sense of burning in the mouth and lips; 
constriction of the fauces, hiccup, violent pains in the abdomen, 

* Christison on Poisons, 3d edit. p. 791. Edinb. 1836. 

I See a case of overdose of Colchicum, by Mr. T. A. Henderson, in Lond. 
Med. Gaz. Aug. 17, 1839, p. 763. 

I Medicinisches Correspondenzblatt, 1840, and Encyclographiedes Sciences 
Mcdicales, Mai, 1840, p. 492. 



COLCHICUM. 177 

vomiting, diarrhoea, and discharge of blood upwards and down- 
wards. 

By drying, the bulbs lose somewhat of their efficacy. The 
seeds have of late come much into use. They are inodorous, but 
of a very acrid taste. Their agency is like that of the bulb, and 
— some think — they are more equable in their effects. To 
ensure this, however, they must be gathered wholly ripe, when 
they first become entirely black. They have been highly recom- 
mended by Dr. Williams and others. 

The flowers are the mildest part of the plant. They have 
likewise been successfully administered by several English phy- 
sicians. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

In its effects, colchicum resembles digitalis in one thing, that it 
renders the pulse less frequent,* according to Thomson and 
Willis ; but, in other respects, Osann and Riecket think it agrees 
more with the squill. J In moderate doses, the different parts of 
the plant that have been mentioned act as diaphoretics, diuretics, 
and cathartics. On the digestive organs, they are conceived to 
produce less debilitating effects than the squill. 

Sir Everard Home ascribes much of the griping and nausea- 
ting effect, that sometimes follows the use of the vinous and other 
tinctures of colchicum, which have not been carefully filtered, to 
the sediment which forms in them, and which may be removed 
without injury to the desired effect of the medicine. § Sir C. 
Scudamore,|| however, found the sediment to be inert. 

Several experiments were made with colchicum on healthy 
individuals. In the first case, 160 drops of the vinous tincture 
of the seeds were taken in 24 hours, by a young man aged 18 ; — 
the first dose being 50 drops, the last 60. Seven copious evacu- 
ations were produced, with loss of appetite and debility for 24 
hours. In the second case, a youth, 17 years old, took 170 drops 
in 9 hours, in doses of 70, 30, and 40 drops ; nausea and vomit- 
ing, and six copious evacuations followed. Third case ; a youth, 
aged 15, took 130 drops in 10 hours, and in four doses; the first 
of 40 drops, and the last three of 30 ; vomiting and only one 
stool were the result. Fourth case ; a youth, aged 12, took 60 

* Art. Colchicum, Encyc. Wbrterb. der Med. Wissensch. viii. 136. Berlin, 
1832. 

t Op. cit. S. 142. 

£ See the Author's General Therapeutics and Materia Medica, i. 289, 
Philad. 1843. 

5 Brande's Dictionary of Materia Medica, p. 189. Lond. 1839. 

|| Treatise on Gout, 3d edit. p. 513. 



17S COLCHICUM. 

drops in two doses, after an interval of eight hours : nine copious 
watery evacuations were produced. Fifth case ; a youth, aged 
17. took 40 drops at bed time, 30 drops next morning, and 30 
drops seven hours after — in all, 100 drops in 19 hours : vomit- 
ing and faintness, and five copious evacuations were the result. 
The same boy afterwards took 70 drops at one dose, which were 
followed by vomiting and headach, but not by purging. Sixth 
case ; a boy, aged 10, took 80 drops in 24^ hours, in four doses, 
of 20, 15, 25,^ and 20 drops : great sickness and vomiting, and 
nine evacuations resulted. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

The diseases in which colchicum is recommended, are as fol- 
lows : — 

In gouty and rheumatic cases, it has been supposed to be 
almost a specific. Numerous practitioners have testified to its 
valuable agency in such affections ; among these may be named 
Mr. Want, Dr. Johnson, Dr. Williams, Mr. Battley, Dr. Arm- 
strong, Sir Everard Home, Sir C. Scudamore, Mr. Haden, Dr. 
Copland, Dr. Graves, Sir Henry Halford, Dr. Wallis, Dr. Bar- 
low,* and Mr. Wigan,f in England ; and Locher-Balber, Kah- 
leis, Gumpert, Plasse, Weber, Klokow, Biermann, &c, in Ger- 
many.;]; In rheumatic gout, Mr. Wigan gives it in the dose of 
eight grains every hour, until " active vomiting, profuse purg- 
ing, or abundant perspiration takes place, or at least until the 
stomach can bear no more." Thus administered, he pronounces 
it to be " the most easily managed, the most universally applica- 
ble, the safest, and the most certain specific [?] in the whole 
compass of our opulent Pharmacopoeia." 

Colchicum is presumed to be the active ingredient of the cele- 
brated gout remedy — Eau medicinale d'Husson — which has 
been considered to be formed of two ounces of colchicum root, 
macerated in eight ounces of Sherry wine ; the dose being from 
twenty to eighty drops. 

In acute rheumatism, as well as in various inflammatory 
affections, colchicum was proposed by the author's friend, Mr. 
Charles T. Haden, § as an excellent sedative to reduce excited 
organic action, which he conceived it capable of effecting to such 
an extent, that bloodletting might generally be rendered unneces- 

* Art. Gout, in Cyclopaedia of Pract. Med. 
| Lancet, and Med. Gaz., June 30, 1838. 

\ Riecke, Op. cit., and Richter's Specielle Therapie, x. 180. Berlin, 1828. 
§ Practical Observations on Colchicum Autumnale in Inflammatory Dis- 
eases. Lond. 1820. 



COLCHICUM. 179 

sary in febrile and inflammatory disorders ;* yet, in the very 
cases in which it was esteemed so appropriate by Mr. Haden 
and by Carminati,t it is regarded unadvisable by others. Thus, 
Riecke,| speaking of its use in acute rheumatism, says, that it 
was atone time given in that disease under the most opposite cir- 
cumstances, but that it was soon found necessary to restrict its 
employment within narrower limits, and to pretermit it when 
any considerable febrile condition existed. 

The author has often exhibited the different preparations of 
colchicum in gout, and frequently with decided advantage ; but 
very often it has failed altogether. In his own person, it has 
never appeared to prevent or to modify the paroxysm. In acute — 
and the same may be said of chronic — rheumatism, its advan- 
tages have not been by any means clearly marked in his experi- 
ence ; many physicians, however, testify most strongly in its 
favour. Like other acro-narcotics,as the cimicifuga, when pushed 
to the extent of slightly affecting the system, as shown by nausea, 
with some cerebral confusion, it has at times, affected a revul- 
sion, which has broken in upon the morbid chain in cases of 
acute rheumatism. Recently, a severe case of acute rheumatism, 
under the author's care, yielded rapidly to colchicum, pushed to 
the extent of inducing painful diarrhoea, accompanied by dis- 
tressing tenesmus. In this case, twenty-five drops of the tinc- 
ture of the seed were given three times a day. When the 
bowels become affected, the remedy must be discontinued 
altogether, or the quantity be diminished. By attending to 
these rules, Dr. Christison§ affirms, that he has never had occa- 
sion to observe any unpleasant effects from the use of colchicum, 
or any symptoms, which a dose of opium did not readily subdue. 
He adds, that he has never seen a case of rheumatism essentially 
benefited, till the patient suffered from colic and diarrhoea on 
the one hand, or from frontal headach and giddiness on the 
other. The ill success, which some practitioners have encoun- 
tered in using colchicum, he thinks may have arisen from inatten- 
tion to this circumstance. In chronic rheumatism, it has exhi- 
bited less marked results ; yet there is no agent, perhaps, which 
is so much employed in rheumatic cases in general. In none of 
these cases, according to most observers, need any sensible evacu- 
ation be produced by it, although some, we have seen, have 
affirmed — and such is the result of our observation — that it is 



* See, also, Dr. Lewins, in Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journal for April, 1837, 
and in Brit and For. Med. Review, for Oct. 1837, p. 565. 
t Memor. dell' Instituto del Regno Lombardo-Venet. 1819. 
% Op. nit. S. 143. 
§ Dispensatory, p. 355. Edinb. 1812. 



180 COLCHICUM. 

more efficient when it evinces its influence upon the alimentary- 
canal.* 

The vinous tincture of the seeds has been extolled in the teta- 
nus of warm climates, by Dr. W. G. Smith,f of Port-au-Prince. 
He begins with 3ss. and increases the dose every half hour, 
repeating it until emesis or catharsis has been produced. The 
remedy is then discontinued. 

In dropsy, colchicum was used of old with good results ; and 
it has been employed in modern times. Carminati gives the 
details of a case of dropsy supervening on scarlatina, and Plasse, 
one of hydrothorax, in which it was advantageously prescribed. 
In such cases, it may be well to push the remedy until it affects 
the bowels. 

In chronic bronchitis, it has been given by many physicians, 
and especially by Drs. Armstrong:}: and Hastings,§ with advan- 
tage ; and Dr. Pereira|| found it of great service, in humoral 
asthma, and other chronic bronchial affections, especially when 
these complaints were accompanied with anasarcous swellings. 
By Rittonl it has been advised as an extremely efficacious 
remedy in leucorrhcea, in the dose of five grains of the powder 
three times a day ; and in several spasmodic diseases it has been 
extolled by Raven. Mr. Tait** speaks in exalted terms of it in 
scarlatina — the dose, to children from four to six years of age, 
being three or four drops of the vinum colchici every three or 
four hours. Mr. Fosbroke advises it in ischuria; Elliotson saw 
favourable effects from it in obstinate prurigo; Bullock gave it 
in erysipelas ; and by Chisholm and Baunibachtt it was exhi- 
bited successfully against tape-worm. 

Colchicum is sometimes applied externally as a liniment to 
rheumatic joints, in the form of the tincture of the seeds or 
bulb.} % Of late, it has been recommended, by Mr. Wansborough 
in gout ;§§ two drams of the tincture of the seeds being added to 
siv. of a spirit lotion. It is affirmed, however, that the local use 
of morphia had the same effect,|||| — the part being bathed in 

* See Wood and Bache's Dispensatory, Art. Colchicum ; and Lewins, Op. 
chat. 

| Amer. Journal of the Medical Sciences, for Nov. 1835, p. 66. 

\ Pathology of Consumptive Diseases. Lond. 1822. 

§ Inflammation of the Mucous Membrane of the Lungs. Lond. 1821. 

|| Elements of Materia Medica, &c. ii. p. 947, Lond. 1842; or Amer. Edit, 
by Dr. Carson, Philad. 1843. 

% Lancet, Aug. 2, 1834. 

** Amer. Jour, of the Medical Sciences, May, 1838, p. 205. 

ff Rust's Magazin, B. xxi. S. 270 ; and Osann, in art. Colchicum, in Encyc. 
Wbrterb. der Medicin. Wissenschaft. B. viii. S. 136. Berlin, 1832. 

XX Diet, de Matiere Medic, par. MM. Merat and De Lens, ii. 361. 

§§ Lancet, July 29, 1837. 

(HI Ibid. Aug. 5, 1837. 



COLCHICTTM. 181 

hot water for a minute, and then lint being applied, spread with 
simple cerate, on which about three grains of acetate of morphia 
were distributed. 

Still more recently, Mr. Laycock* has advised the tincture of 
the root as an external application in rheumatism, alone or com- 
bined with tinctura camphorse. It has been used in the author's 
Clinique at the Philadelphia Hospital, and often with advantage; 
but whether much or any of the benefit was produced by the 
colchicum, he was unable to decide. 

MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Colchicum is not so frequently given in substance, although it 
is often prescribed in this form. The dose of the powdered root 
is from three grains to ten, several times in the day. The offici- 
nal preparations of this country and Great Britain are : — acetum 
colchici (United States and London) ; oxymel colchici (Dublin) ; 
syrupus colchici (Edinburgh) ; vinum colchici radicis (United 
States and London) ; and extr actum colchici aceticum (Lon- 
don). These are made from the bulb. 

The officinal preparations from the seeds are tinctura col- 
chici seminis (United States and Dublin) ; and vinum colchici 
scminis (United States). t The London Pharmacopoeia has, like- 
wise, a spiritus seminis colchici ammoniatus or tinctura col- 
chici composita, which is much used by the English physicians, 
and is formed by macerating two ounces and a half of bruised 
colchicum seeds in a pint of aromatic spirit of ammonia. Bat- 
tley recommends an extractum colchici e succo bulborum 
recenter expresso, and such a preparation is in the Pharmaco- 
poeia of Austria, j The dose is two grains every two hours. 

Dr. A. T. Thomson recommends a saturated vinous tincture, 
made by macerating an ounce and a half of the dried bulb in 
twelve ounces of white wine. From thirty to sixty minims are 
given to gouty patients when in pain. 

The dose of the powdered root or seed is, as we have said, 
from three to ten grains ; of the acetum colchici, from thirty mi- 
nims to one fluid dram ; of the syrupus colchici, from one fluid 
dram to half a fluid ounce ; of the vinum colchici radicis, from 
fifteen minims to one and a half fluid dram ; and of the vinum 
colchici seminis, from one to two fluid drams. 

Dr. Copland§ suggested the use of the fresh flowers in the form 

* Lond. Med. Gaz. March 1G, 1839, and Juno 8, 1839, p. 388. 

f See the Author's General Therapeutics, Philad. I8.'{(;, and his General 
Therap. and Mat. Med. Philad. 1813 ; also, the Dispensatory of Messrs. Wood 
and Bachc. 

X Jourdan's Pharmacopce Universelle, i. 436. Paris, 1828. 

§ Lond. Med. Repos. 1823. 
16 



1S2 C0LCHICT7M. 

of vinegar, tincture, &c, as milder than the seeds or bulbs, and 
yet equally efficacious in rheumatic and other affections ; but 
they are not employed. 

Mistura colchici. 
Mixture of colchicum. 

Scudamore's mixture. 

R. Magnes. sulphat. 5J. ad 3*ij. 
Solve in 

Aquae menth. crisp, f. ^x. 
Adde 

Acet. colchic. f.3J. ad f.giss. 

Syrup, croc. f.gj. 

Magnes. 9viij. M. 

To be well shaken. Three table-spoonfuls to be administered, 
so that from four to six evacuations may be produced in twenty- 
four hours. Given in paroxysms of gout. 

Sir C. Scudarnore. 

Guttse colchici composite. 

Compound drops of colchicum. 

R. Extract, aconit. ^i. to Jss. 
Solve in 

Vin. colchic. sem. f.3"ss. M. 

Fifteen, twenty, thirty, or forty drops to be given three times 
a day. Weber. 

R. Tinctur. colchic. sem. 

guaiac. aa. f.Jiij. M. 

Dose. — Thirty or forty drops three times a day, in chronic 
rheumatism. Blasius. 

R. Tinct. colchic. sem. 

digit, aa. f.3'j- 

Sp. aether, nitric. 3ss. M. 

Dose. — Twenty drops, on sugar. Hildenbrand. 



COMPRESSIO. 183 

Pilulffi colchici. 

Pills of colchicum. 

R. Colchic. pulv. gr. iij. 

Saponis q. s. ut fiat pilula. 

Dose. — Three daily, increasing the quantity to five or six. 

Ritton. 

Linimentum colchici et camphorrc. 

Liniment of colchicum and camphor. 

R. Tinctur. rad. colchic. 

Tinct. camphorze, aa. partes sequales. M. 

Laycock. 



LIII. COMPRES'SIO. 

Synonymks. Compression, Methodical Compression. 
German. Druck. 

This valuable method of modifying the condition of the capil- 
lary or intermediate system of vessels, and, through it, the func- 
tion of nutrition, has lately become more extensively employed 
in the treatment of disease. As a sorbefacient,in various hyper- 
trophies and dropsies, it has long been used wherever its agency 
was applicable, and its effects have been very decided.* Of 
late, it has been proposed in inflammatory and other affections, 
in which it had been previously esteemed inapplicable. Up- 
wards of twenty years ago, it was highly recommended in rheu- 
matic affections, by Dr. William Balfour,t of Edinburgh; and 
numerous cases were brought forward by him, and by others, 
to attest its efficacy. Since then, it has been advised by G uerin,J 

* Clinique Mcdicalede l'HOpital Necker, p. 2-17, Paris, 1835; or the trans- 
lation in Dunglison's American Medical Library, first year. See, also, the 
Author's General Therapeutics, p. 228, Philad. 1836 ; and his General Therap. 
and Mat. Med. ii. 289, Philad. 1813; likewise, Morelli, Annali Universali di 
Medicin. Marzo, 1840, and Brit, and For. Med. Rev. Jan. 1841, p. 237. 

f A new mode of curing Rheumatism and Sprains without Debilitatino. 
Edinb. 1817. 

\ Journ. Analyt. i. 90. 



184 COMPRESSIO. 

in cases of phlegmonous erysipelas of the extremities ; by Vel- 
peau,* in severe barns, and phlebitis, and in inflammation of 
the synovial apparatus ;t and, still more recently, Mr. James 
AllanJ has related three cases of phlegmasia benefited by a 
similar treatment; — two were of erysipelas of the lower ex- 
tremities, and one of the face. In these, compression was of 
speedy and permanent benefit, — the pain caused by it being 
very transient. He states, moreover, that he has found the 
bandage of very great service in removing the pain and swelling 
of joints affected with acute rheumatism, after the more active 
degree of inflammation had passed away. 

In cases of external inflammation, compression acts probably 
in two ways, — first, by diminishing the circulation in the inter- 
mediate system of vessels concerned in the pathological condi- 
tion ; and, secondly, by restoring tone to the over-dilated vessels ; 
for it is in erysipelatous affections, in which this form of hyper- 
emia more especially exists, that we have found it of greatest 
advantage. Numerous cases of erysipelas of the extremities 
have been treated by the author by compression, and with the 
greatest benefit. He is constantly, also, in the habit of employ- 
ing compression, under the circumstances mentioned by Mr. 
Allan, in arthritic affections, which are usually attended with 
great effusion, and with the most satisfactory results. 

From an observation of the good effects resulting from com- 
pression in analogous cases, it occurred to Dr. Fricke,§ of 
Hamburg, that it might be employed with advantage in cases of 
orchitis, or swelled testicle (hernia humoralis) ; which is fre- 
quently very tedious, and requires means, that are by no means 
easy of application. He, accordingly, had recourse to it, and the 
result was most satisfactory : he found, that " the disease could 
be removed by it in a simple, easy, and surprisingly rapid way." 
Dr. Fricke was not, however, the first to employ compression 
in this disease. It would seem, that as long ago as the year 
1803, it was used at the Pennsylvania Hospital, by Dr. Physick, 
and by Dr. Hartshorne.|| Dr. Fricke is of opinion, that, gene- 
rally speaking, compression may be employed in every kind of 
inflammatory engorgement of the testicle, whatever may have 
been its cause, and at all stages of the disease. In many cases, 
the pain was at first, in some degree, increased ; and in some — 
especially when applied too tightly — it induced great suffering ; 
but this nevercontinued long, — thepatient,ina short time, finding 

* Ibid., and Bulletin General de Therapeutique, No. 16, Aout 30, 1836. 

f Nouv. Bib. Med., Aout, 1826; and Merat and De Lens, Diet, de Mat. 
Med. Art. Compression. 

X British Annals of Medicine, Jan. 27, 1837. 

§ Zeitschrift fiir die gesammt. Medicin. B. i. H. 1, Hamburg, 1836. See, 
also, Brit, and For. Med. Rev. for July, 1836, p. 253. 

|| American Journal of the Med. Sciences, Jan. 1842, p. 258. 



COMPRESSIO. 1S5 

himself so much relieved as to be able to leave his bed and walk 
about the room. In many cases of recent origin, a single ap- 
plication of the compression was sufficient ; but when the dis- 
ease was of longer duration — say from three to eight days — it 
was found necessary to repeat the compression two or three 
times. Swelling of the spermatic cord, if not very considerable, 
did not contraindicate its use ; nor did other coexistent local 
affections, as buboes, ulcers, &c. When a general febrile state 
accompanied the orchitis, compression was found to be the best 
means for removing it, where the vascular action was not too 
considerable ; although, in extremely rare cases, such was the 
effect of the compression itself. 

When the pain was very severe, it was generally owing to 
the compression having been too strong, and the same was the 
case with certain signs of gastric derangement, that occasionally 
supervened. In these cases, it was necessary to suspend the 
remedy, until the derangement was removed, by the use of an 
emetic, or the application of a poultice to the stomach. Such 
cases were, however, extremely infrequent. 

The good effects of compression exhibited themselves very 
soon after its employment, and the speedy abatement of the pain 
was always the surest sign of its efficacy. If it continued for 
some hours in any considerable degree, a general disorder of the 
system might be looked for to explain the failure of success. 

In the summer of 1835, Dr. Fricke treated, in this manner, 
seventeen cases. Of these were cured ; — in one day, one ■ in 
three days, four ; in four days, two ; in five days, three ; in nine 
days, one ; and in ten days, two. The last three were severe 
and unfavourable cases. 

For the purpose of compression, he employed sticking plaster, 
made very adhesive, but not of too irritating materials, and 
spread on strips of linen, of the breadth of the thumb. No 
preparatory measures, as leeches, cataplasms, &c, are required. 

In slighter cases, the patient may stand before the surgeon 
leaning against the wall, or he may sit on the edge of a bed or 
sofa, in such sort that the scrotum may hang freely down. If 
the scrotum and neighbouring parts are much covered with hair, 
this must be removed ; but, generally speaking, it is unneces- 
sary. 

The following is the method he adopts for applying the com- 
pression : — The surgeon takes the scrotum in one hand, and 
separates the diseased from the sound testicle ; whilst, with the 
other, he gently stretches the skin of the scrotum over the former : 
the spermatic cord is isolated in the same manner. If the swell- 
ing of the testicle be considerable, it must be held by an assistant. 
The surgeon now applies the first strip over the isolated sper- 
matic cord, about a finger's breadth above the testicle, holding 
16* 



1S6 COMPRESSIO. 

the end of the strip with his thumb, and passing it round the 
cord. He proceeds in the same manner with the second strip, 
which must cover the former either in part or altogether. The 
first part of the process must be carefully done ; the strips must 
compress the cord closely ; for this purpose, the cord must be 
kept approximated to the skin, which must be tightly stretched 
over it ; otherwise, when the other extremity of the testicle is 
compressed, the upper end will be apt to slip upwards through 
the loose rings of adhesive plaster, which will not only occasion 
pain, but render the whole operation abortive. In this manner, 
the surgeon proceeds, applying strip after strip, the last always 
lying over its precursor by a third of its width, until the thickest 
part of the testicle — where it begins rapidly to decrease in dia- 
meter — is reached. The mode of procedure is now changed ; 
the surgeon lays hold of the part of the testicle already covered, 
and passes his strips longitudinally from above downwards over 
the lower portion of the testicle. In this way, the rest of the 
testicle is closely enveloped and compressed. The proper degree 
of compression will be indicated, in most cases, by the speedy 
disappearance of the pain which had previously existed. 

When both testicles are affected, they must both be included 
in the circular strapping — the testicle already covered serving 
as a point of support for the other, as there is not room enough 
for the application of the circular strips over the second, in the 
same way as over the first. 

In some cases, where the skin is irritable, ulcerations take 
place : small slits may then be cut in the plaster, and a Goulard 
lotion be applied. 

Generally speaking, the patient may leave his bed immediately 
after the strapping has been attached, and walk about the room ; 
and, where the inflammation has not been great, he may even 
attend to light labour out of door. 

When the strapping becomes loose, it may have to be reapplied, 
but often one application is sufficient. 

In orchitis, caused by blows or pressure, compression is re- 
garded by Dr. Fricke as the best agency. If the inflammation 
runs very high, he usually applies leeches, in the first instance, 
and keeps on poultices for a day or two ; but, in slighter cases, 
he has recourse immediately to compression. The principal 
advantages, which he considers this mode of treating orchitis to 
have over others, are : First. The speedy removal of the pain ; 
Secondly. The quick removal of the disease itself; Thirdly. 
The simplicity of the plan, and the slight trouble given thereby 
to the patient ; Fourthly. Its small expense : and, Fifthly. The 
comparatively slight care and attendance required on the part 
of the surgeon. The last two points, as he properly remarks, 
are of considerable importance in hospital practice. 



C0MPRESSI0. 1S7 

Since this plan of treating orchitis was suggested by Fricke, 
it has been successfully employed by our hospital and other sur- 
geons, although it has been by no means extensively adopted. 
Several cases, too, have been mentioned by M. Dechange,* of 
Liege, formerly chef de clinique chirurgicale at the Hopital de 
Baviere. Of twelve cases of acute orchitis, thus treated, three 
were cured in three days ; and the remainder before the seventh 
day. Mr. Langston Parkert has also recently extolled this re- 
medy not only in ordinary swelled testicle, but in chronic ox sub- 
acute inflammation of the testes, whether dependent on syphi- 
litic causes or not ; and a still more recent writer:): affirms, that 
he has adopted the practice in many cases, and can speak most 
unequivocally in its praise. It may be employed, he remarks, 
in very acute forms ; and he has seen several instances, where 
the patients had not lain in bed an hour, " whilst under the ordi- 
nary antiphlogistic treatment they would have been confined 
from ten days to a fortnight." 

Methodical compression has been employed with advantage 
in mammary abscess, by MM. Trousseau and Contour. § They 
found it frequently to produce a cure when used at the com- 
mencement of the inflammation ; to relieve the pain when sup- 
puration was established ; and to be of great service after the 
abscess was emptied. The compression was made by means of 
strips of diachylon plaster, an inch broad, and several feet long, 
carried round the body, so as to produce regular compression of 
the whole breast. || 

Of late, compression op the arteries, as an antiphlogistic 
agent, has been revived by Goyrand, Malapert, and others ; the 
object being to prevent the afflux of blood to a part labouring 
under hypersemia. The origin of this idea has been a matterof 
controversy ;TI but, as Dezeimeris** has remarked, it certainly is 
not due to the gentlemen who have engaged in it. Blaud com- 
pressed the carotid in brain fever ; Autenrieth did the same, 
before Bland, in cases of convulsions. Earl, in epilepsy ; Living- 
ston and Kellie, in rheumatism ; Ludlow, in gout ; and Parry, 
of Bath, half a century earlier, employed compression of the 

* Bulletin Medical Beige, Aout, 1838, p. 218. 

f London Lancet, July 25, 1810, p. 610. See, also, J. Dixon, Lond. Lan- 
cet, Dec. 5, 1810. 

\ British and Foreign Medical Review, Oct. 1840, p. 393. 

§ .Journal des Connaissances Med. Chirur. Fevrier, 1841. See, also, 
J. Bell, Lond. Med. Qaz., and Dunglison's Med. Intelligencer, Dec. 1841, 
p. 121. 

[| See, also, Littrc, .Tourn. des Connaiss. Med. Chirurg. Janvier, 1841 ; and 
Encyclogr. des Sciences Med. Marz, 1811, p. 523. 

If Gazette Medicale de Paris, No. 40, Nov. 18, 1837, and No. 47. 

♦* Ibid. 



1SS COMPRESSIO. 

vessels in different diseases, with the clearest appreciation of its 
modus operandi. 

Compression of the carotids has been used by M. Strohlin* 
in hysteric convulsions, and has almost always succeeded in 
modifying the form of the attack. He used it in two cases of epi- 
lepsy with similar success. Compression of the carotids at the 
commencement of the paroxysm always caused them to cease 
in a minute afterwards. 

M. Alliert has published a case of intermittent neuralgia of 
the lobe of the right ear, cured by compression of the primitive 
carotid of the same side : half an hour before the paroxysm, the 
compression was exerted, with interruptions of five minutes 
every quarter of an hour. He has, also, reported a case of neu- 
ralgia of the orbito-frontal nerve; and, subsequently, of the 
nervus pudendus superior, respectively cured by compression of 
the carotid, and abdominal aorta. The compression of the 
carotid of the affected side was continued the whole forenoon, 
with pauses of five minutes every quarter of an hour. For the 
pudic neuralgia, the abdominal aorta was compressed for the 
space of three-quarters of an hour : the neuralgia, in both in- 
stances, gradually ceased. 

M. DufresneJ has published a case of hemicrania and facial 
neuralgia of the right side, cured by the same means. Com- 
pression of the right primitive carotid for ten seconds occasioned 
instantaneous disappearance of the pain, which returned in one 
minute after the removal of the pressure. Compression of the same 
vessel for twelve seconds caused instantaneous disappearance 
of the pain, but it shifted to the posterior part of the head. This 
pain ceased with the removal of the pressure, and in two minutes 
afterwards the original pain reappeared on the right side. When 
graduated compression was made on the same vessel for thirty 
seconds, the pain, as before, moved to the posterior left part of 
the skull. M. Dul'resne then pressed on the left carotid, and, 
increasing the force as he diminished that on the right side, the 
posterior pain disappeared, and no return of either had taken 
place ten minutes afterwards. The patient slept well, and made 
no complaint of pain in the morning. 

Compression of the abdominal aorta has likewise been revived 
by M. Baudelocque, and many others, with the view of arresting 
uterine hemorrhage occurring in labour, as well as the hemor- 
rhages which follow wounds' of the arteries of the inferior half 
of the body.§ In a case of uterine hemori-hage, detailed by Dr. 

* Archives Getieral.de Medecine, Mars, 1841. 
t L'Experience, No. 16, Jan. 20, 1838. 
I Ibid. No. cxxviii. Dec. 1839. 

§ See an account of M. Baudelocque's views, by Mr. J. C. Christophers, in 
Lancet, July 20, 1839, p. 599. 



COMPRESSIO. 1S9 

Ehrenreich,* external compression by the hand on the abdomen, 
which is the only way of acting on the aorta when any obstacle 
exists to the introduction of the hand into the uterus, was tried 
without success, owing to the thickness of the abdominal parietes. 
The hemorrhage was, however, completely controlled by intro- 
ducing the entire right hand into the uterus, and making forcible 
pressure with the fingers in a conical shape on the aorta imme- 
diately above its bifurcation. 

Many similar cases have been published, and referred to by 
M. Piedagnel, in a memoir communicated to the Societe Medi- 
cate d y Emulation, of Paris, on which an excellent report was 
read by MM. Velpeau and Briere de Boismont, giving a history 
of the process. It is necessary, at times, that the compression 
should be continued for a considerable period, even for an hour 
or two, should the case seem to require it. The gentlemen, 
last cited, advise that it should be associated with ergot.t 

Lastly : M. AllierJ employed compression of both carotids in 
a case of hydrophobia at the commencement of an attack ; im- 
mediately, the convulsion ceased, and the patient became appa- 
rently exanimate. The family were alarmed, and would not 
permit a repetition of the experiment. The case ended fatally. 

In paroxysmal diseases, the ratio medendi of compression is 
not the same as in inflammatory diseases. In the latter, the flow 
of blood towards the inflamed part is prevented by the com- 
pression of the arterial vessels proceeding to it ; but when com- 
pression is exerted on the vessels in neuralgia and congenerous 
diseases, the new impression caused by the resulting irregularity 
in the circulation, and the modification in the nervous function 
induced thereby, break in upon the morbid catenation like the 
different agents that are classed under the head of antispasmo- 
dics, of which class we have elsewhere endeavoured to show — 
what, by the way, is not now contested by any eminent thera- 
peutist — that we have none that can be regarded in any other 
light than as indirect agents.§ 

* Medicinische Zeitung. No. xxxvii. 1839, and British and Foreign Medi- 
cal Review, July, 1840, p. 279. 

f La Lancette Francaise, May 12, 1840. 

X Medicinische Zeitung, No. xxxvii. 1839, and British and Foreign Medi- 
cal Review, July, 1840, p. 279. 

§ See the Author's General Therapeutics, p. 380; and his General Thera- 
peutics and Mat. Med. i. 395. Philad. 1843. 



190 CONTRA-IRRITATIO. 



LIV. CONTRA-IRRITATIO. 

Svnonymes. Counter-irritation, Counter-action. 
German. Gegenreizung. 

It is not the object of the author to enter into an explanation 
of the therapeutical application of counter-irritants, or revellents 
in general; this he has done at considerable length elsewhere;* 
but to refer to some agents not mentioned in the body of the 
work, to which attention has been revived, or first directed, of 
late years more especially. 



AMMONIATED COUNTER-IRRITANTS. 

Gondrct's ammoniacal ointment; Granvillei's counter-irri- 
tants— Antidynoust counter-irritants, — Raspail's coun- 
ter-irritant. 

Ammonia has long been used in different formulas for exciting 
rubefaction and vesication of the cutaneous surface. When two 
parts of liquid ammonia are united with one part of suet, and 
one of oil of sweet almonds, the mixture forms the Pommade 
ammoniacale of Gondret, which has been used for a long time 
to excite a speedy revulsion in cases of chronic affections of the 
brain, incipient cataract, amaurosis, &c.,as well as to cauterise 
the integuments deeply. J To the advantages of this preparation, 
as well as of derivation in various diseases, M. Gondret has re- 
cently recalled the attention of practitioners in an ex professo 
treatise.§ 

The formula, given above, is that of the French Codex ; but, 
according to M. Trousseau, || it is much too hard for use, unless 
the weather is warm. He proposes two different formulas, — 

* General Therapeutics, p. 333 ; and Genera] Therapeutics and Mat. Med. 
ii. 216. Philad. 1843. 

f A term coined by Dr. Granville. It ought to be " Antodynous," from 
etvt-t, "against," and oJW», " pain." 

| Considerations sur l'emploi du feu en medecine, suivies de l'expose d'un 
moyen epispastique propre a suppleer la cauterisation, et a remplacer l'usage 
des cantharides. Paris, 1819; and Nouv. Biblioth. Med. iii. 441, 1828. 

§ Traite theorique et pratique de la Derivation contre les affections les 
plus communes en general, telle que la Plethore, I'Inflammation, l'Hemor- 
rhagie, &c. Paris, 1837. 

|| Journ. des Connaiss. Med. Chir., cited in Medico-Chirurgical Review, 
July, 1840. 



CONTRA--IRRITATIO. 1.91 

one for summer, and the other for winter. In the former, he 
directs three parts of lard, one of suet, and four of liquor ammo- 
nias ; in the latter, equal parts of lard, and liquor ammonias. 

Since the appearance of M. Gondret's last work, Dr. Gran- 
ville* has published a treatise on counter-irritation, which has 
given rise to much attention on both sides of the Atlantic, — 
partly in consequence of the strong encomiums he has passed on 
certain counter-irritant applications employed by him ; and still 
more in consequence of the mystery, which he threw around 
them, by keeping their preparation a secret, until the united voice 
of the profession had expressed the mingled feelings of surprise, 
indignation, and regret, which such conduct on the part of an 
individual, holding an elevated position in the ranks of the pro- 
fession, naturally engendered. It is due, however, to Dr. Gran- 
ville to remark, that on subsequently publishing his formulas, he 
stated, that he addressed his work to the public to impress all 
with the value of the agency, but that it would have been unwise 
in him to give precise formulae to those who could not estimate 
the proper proportions of the ingredients ; that every physician 
can apportion them ; and that he had never concealed the for- 
mulas from his friends, and always intended to give them to the 
world, t 

Dr. Granville describes two sorts of ammoniated lotions, of 
different degrees of power, which are prepared in the following 
manner : — 

Each kind of lotion consists of three ingredients : — 1st. The 
strongest liquor of ammonia, A. 2d. Distilled spirit of rose- 
mary, B. 3d. Spirit of camphor, C. 

These are made as follows : — 

A. The strongest liquor of Ammonia. — Saturate a given 
quantity of distilled water, contained in a glass receiver sur- 
rounded by ice, with ammoniacal gas, obtained in the usual 
way from a mixture of equal parts of muriate of ammonia and 
recently slacked lime, both reduced to a fine powder. The water 
may be made to take up nearly 800 times its bulk of ammoni- 
ated gas under the circumstances described ; its specific gravity 
will then be about .872, and 100 parts of it will contain thirty- 
three parts of real ammonia, according to Sir H. Davy's tables. 
This solution of ammonia will, therefore, be more than three 
times the strength of the liquor ammonias of the Pharmacopoeia 
of London, 100 parts of which, at a specific gravity of .960, con- 
tain only ten parts of real ammonia. Dr. Granville, therefore, 
called this ^liquor ammonias fortissimus." The liquor a mmo- 

* Counter-irritation, its Principles and Practice, illustrated by one hundred 
Cases of the most painful and important Diseases effectually cured by Exter- 
nal Applications. London, 1838 ; or Dunglison's Amer. Med. Lib. edition. 
Philad. 1838. 

f London Lancet, Oct. 27, 1838. 



192 CONTRA-IRRITATIO. 

nix fortior, of the last United States' Pharmacopoeia (1842), 
which is of the specific gravity 0.SS2, is of sufficient strength. 

B. Distilled spirit of Rosemary. — Take two pounds of the 
tips or small leaves of fresh ?'osemary, and eight pints of alco- 
hol; leave the whole in infusion for twenty-four hours in a well 
covered vessel, and after adding as much water as will just pre- 
vent the empyreumatic smell, distil over seven pints. The 
Pharmacopoeias of London and the United States direct the 
essential oil of rosemary to be distilled with alcohol to form 
the spirit of rosemary. Such a preparation Dr. Granville found 
unsuited for his purpose. 

C. Spirit op Camphor. — To four ounces of pure camphor add 
two pints of alcohol, so as to dissolve the camphor, which solu- 
tion should be filtered. 

The three ingredients, thus prepared, every medical man 
should keep always ready at hand, in well-stoppered glass 
bottles, so as to be able to make, extemporaneously, a counter- 
irritating lotion of any requisite strength, according to the nature 
of the case. But, for ordinary purposes, Dr. Granville advises, 
that both a milder and a stronger ammoniated lotion should be 
kept ready for use. 

Lotio amiuoniata initior. 
Milder ammoniated lotion. 

. Assuming the quantity of lotion desired to be divided into eight 
parts, the proportion of the ingredients will stand thus : — 

A — four-eighths. B — three-eighths. C — one-eighth, or as 
follows : — 

R. Liq. ammon. fort. f.Jj. 
Spirit, rosmarin. f.3vj. 
Tinct. camphor, f.Jij. M. 

Lotio ammoniata fortior. 

Stronger ammoniated lotion. 

If the quantity desired be also divided into eight parts, then 
the proportions of the ingredients will run as follows : — 

A — five-eighths. B — two-eighths. C — one-eighth, or as 
follows : — 

J&. Liq. ammon. fort. f.Jx. 
Spirit, rosmar. f.gss. 
Tinct. camph. f.^ij. M. 



C0NTRA-IRRITATI0. 193 

Although the changes of proportion may be deemed trifling, 
yet the strength of this lotion is such, that Dr. Granville never 
employs it, except in cases of apoplexy, and for the purpose of 
cauterization. 

Directions in Mixing the Ingredients. — A and B are gradu- 
ally mixed together. The mixture becomes opalescent and 
somewhat turbid, and a peculiar, highly agreeable, ethereal 
smell is given out, different from the individual odour of either 
ingredient, although the extreme pungency of the ammonia is 
still discernible. " I have strong reasons to believe," says Dr. 
Granville, " that, at this point of the operation, some particular 
change takes place, which imparts to the mixture of the two 
ingredients some of its valuable peculiarities as a counter-irritant 
described in my work : but what that change is, it is not my 
business to enter upon in this place : suffice it to say, that in a 
great number of experiments made with the ingredients sepa- 
rately, (for each of them acts as a counter-irritant on the skin,) 
and with them combined, the effects were uniformly different ; 
those in the former case being found unequal to the production 
of those complete results which I trust I have justly promised 
to the prefession. Ammonia alone (however strong) will not 
give rise to the effects I have described, though it has often 
stopped internal pain, and produced small blisters ;, but never 
has it succeeded in almost immediately producing a full vesica- 
tion, as I have seldom failed to produce with the two ingredi- 
ents mixed together, particularly after the third ingredient had 
been added." 

Before, however, that third ingredient is so added, it is desir- 
able to clear the previous mixture, by the addition of a small 
quantity of alcohol, and to set the whole in a cool place. All 
the various precautions here mentioned may, upon an emergency, 
be dispensed with, when an immediate action is required, either 
to arrest pain or relieve deep-seated inflammation. But for the 
more delicate uses, particularly for instantaneous vesication, Dr. 
Granville recommends, that the preparations should be obtained 
in the manner specified. 

The lotion must always be kept in bottles with a glass stopper. 

M. Raspail* has recommended the following lotion, the effects 
of which, he says, are often instantaneous in relieving intolerable 
headach: 

R. Liquor ammon. p. 100 
Aqu<E destillat. p. 900 
Sodii chloric], purif. p. 20 
Camphor, p. 2. 
Essentia: rosar. q. s. 

The whole to be dissolved cold. 

* L'Experience, 24 Juillet, 1840. 
17 



194 CONTRA-IRRITATIO. 

A piece of linen is to be steeped in this solution, and applied 
over the part of the head which is the seat of pain, care being 
taken that none of the fluid passes into the eyes. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

The various counter-irritants, described above, act essentially 
in the same manner ; differing only in the intensity of the counter- 
irritation, which they induce. In all, the liquor ammonise is the 
main effective ingredient. 

The stronger of Granville's lotions is a powerful agent. It 
gives rise in a few minutes to vesication over the whole surface 
to which it may be applied ; almost as rapidly, indeed, as if 
boiling water were placed upon the part. 

It need scarcely be said, that the strength of these lotions may 
be regulated so as to produce either full vesication, or simply 
rubefaction, by varying the quantity of the liquor ammoniae. 

The mode of applying these liquid counter-irritants is, as in the 
case of the Oleum Sinapis (q. v.), first to impregnate with them 
a piece of cotton or linen, folded six or seven times, or a piece of 
thick or coarse flannel ; and then lay either of these on the spot, 
pressing with the hand, at the same time, very steadily and firmly 
on the compress, over which there should be placed a thick 
towel, doubled several times, so that not only the evaporation of 
the lotion may be impeded, but the hand, employed in pressing 
the application to the part, may not suffer from direct or indirect 
contact with the liquid. Care must be taken that the ammonia 
does not reach the eyes or nose.* 

As a general rule, the application should seldom be kept on 
longer than from one to six or eight minutes ; and, Dr. Granville 
affirms, it has often happened to him to find, that less than a 
minute was sufficient to produce the desired alleviation of pain 
and spasm. But in order to excite the higher degrees of counter- 
irritation, as vesication and cauterization, as many as ten or 
twelve minutes may be necessary. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

There can be no doubt, that the ammoniated counter-irritants 
are valuable agents in all those diseases, which are capable of 
being benefited by a sudden and powerful revulsion. It is 
chiefly, as elsewhere stated,t when the diseased action has been 

* Granville, Op. cit., Amer. edit. p. 39. 

t General Therapeutics, p. 341 ; and General Therapeutics and Mat. Med. 
ii. 221. Philad. 1843. 



CONTRA-IRRITATIO. 195 

prolonged for a considerable period, and in affections, which 
belong to the neuralgic class, that rapid revulsions are produc- 
tive of the most marked advantage. When the disease is of an 
acute character — ■ as in the different phlegmasia? — revellents, 
which are more prolonged in their action, are — as a general 
rule — preferable. It is in the first class of affections, chiefly, 
that his lotions are extolled by Dr. Granville ; he urges the im- 
portance of the sudden vesication effected by them in the treat- 
ment of many serious disorders ; and affirms, that they arrest 
" nervous and muscular pain almost immediately, provided it 
does not depend on structural disease."* There is perhaps no 
agent — he remarks — except boiling water, which can, in the 
space of between three and ten minutes, give rise to as ample a 
vesication. But, as powerful and effective a revulsion can be 
accomplished by the actual cautery in various forms, and especi- 
ally in that of the moxa (q. v.). This we we say from observa- 
tion ; and it is a result to which just theory would lead us. 

The ammoniated lotions are, however, devoid of the painful 
mental impression, which the dread of actual fire occasions ; 
although we doubt not that, in many of the cases above referred 
to, such mental impression may exert an important agency in the 
cure. 

Dr. Granville gives the following, not very classically arranged, 
list of diseases, which, in the course of nine years, have appeared 
to him to be benefited by his counter-irritants. 



DISEASES. 
A. Principally affecting the Nervons System. 

1. Acute neuralgia j Y „ , t ( Tic douloureux. 

2 Spasms N including ( St Vitus's Dance. 

3. Convulsions | b $ Hysterics. 

4. Cramp. 

5. Brow-ague. 

6. Tetanus or lock-jaw. 

7. Highly acute toothach. 

8. Nervous headach. 

* Lancet, Oct. 27, 1838. 



196 CONTRA-IRRITATIO. 



B. Principally affecting the Muscles and Tendinous 
Tissues. 

9. Rheumatism. 

10. Lumbago. 

11. Swelled and highly painful articulations. 

C. Principally affecting the circulation. 

12. Headach from fulness of blood in the head. 

13. Congestions and sudden attacks of blood in the head. 

14. Sore-throat. 

. „ , . | a. of the trachea, and bronchia, . g 

15. harlyin- U ofthe lungs and the ir membranes, L nn ° _ 
fammation. \ ^ of the ^ ftnd pericardlum . f co^ump- 



J 



the heart and pericardium. 



D. Diseases of a Mixed Character. 

, „ c, j , ~) a. Affecting the heart. 

16. Suppressed gout. J b Affectin | the stomach . 

17. Genuine gout. 

18. Paralytic debility. 

E. Accidental, Mechanical, and Cutaneous Derangements. 

19. Violent sprains. 

20. Pimples. 

21. Biles. 

22. Ringworm. 

Dr. Granville does not affirm, that all these disorders, and 
their modifications, have yielded to the ammoniated counter- 
irritants ; or that the counter-irritants were always the sole agents 
employed. On the contrary, a few of them, he says, on parti- 
cular occasions, resisted that agency ; others were only momen- 
tarily benefited ; and a few more required the simultaneous 
employment of ordinary and internal remedies to assist in, and 
complete, the cure. 

Among the exceptions to the general rule of success, he enu- 
merates chronic tic douloureux ; chronic rheumatism of long 
standing ; epilepsy dependent on organic mischief in the brain, 
or any part of the spinal apparatus ; and rheumatic gout, in 
persons whose constitutions had been completely shaken by that 
disorder, or by any other previous disease, although, even in this 
case, some good was obtained from using the ammoniated counter- 



CORTEX ADSTRINGENS BRASILIENSIS. 197 

irritants. The second and fourth of these disorders are of that 
number which require, in addition to the ammoniated applica- 
tions, an appropriate internal treatment. The other two, Dr. 
Granville has found to be only partially relieved, but never cured 
by counter-irritating lotions* 

In many of the disorders, referred to by Dr. Granville in the 
table given above, the ammoniated counter-irritants have been em- 
ployed both in public and private in thiscountry. They have been 
largely used by the author, and the effect in nervous and spas- 
modic diseases, in neuralgic and deep-seated rheumatic pains, 
has at times been very striking. Severe pains have yielded 
rapidly, as described by Dr. Granville ; hyperxmix of particular 
organs have been diverted elsewhere, especially after blood-let- 
ting and sedatives had been premised ; and, in short, whenever 
revellents, sudden and rapid in their action, have been demanded, 
ammoniated counter-irritants have effected every thing that 
similar powerful revellents were capable of accomplishing, — 
but no more. The author is in the habit of having recourse to 
the moxa in congenerous affections, and — as before remarked 
— with equally satisfactory results. There is one objection, too, 
that applies to the use of these strong lotions : — the sloughs and 
sores induced by them are often considerable, and remarkably 
difficult to heal. This, it is true, may be partly prevented, by 
being careful that the application is not too long continued ; but, 
with the greatest caution, these results will, at times, supervene. 
When such is the case, simple dressings, with emollient poul- 
tices, will be found the best applications. 



LV. CORTEX ADSTRIN'GENS BRASILIEN'SIS. 

Stnontme. Astringent Bark of Brazil. 

This bark was introduced into Germany, in the year 1818, by 
Schimmelbusch, a merchant, who carried it from Brazil, where 
it had long been used internally, as well as externally, as an ex- 
cellent astringent.f According to Von Martius,J it is the bark of 
Acacia jurema, but this is not certainly determined.§ Merrem|| 

* Op. cit. p. 29. 

f Von Schlectendal, in Rncyclop. Wbrterb. der Medicin. Wissenschaft. 
B. viii. S. 538. Berlin, 1832. 
% Reise, ii. 788. 

§ Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, S. 146. 
|| Ueber den Cortex adstringens Brasiliensis. Koln, 1828. 
17* 



19S CORTEX ADSTKINGENS BRASILIENSIS. 

affirms, that the genuine bark is in more or less flat pieces, at 
times in half, or complete rolls, from four to twelve inches long ; 
from an inch to two inches and a half broad, and from one to 
four lines thick : these are more frequently straight than crooked. 
The bark may be separated into two parts, an outer, which is 
rough, and an inner rind of a smooth fibrous character : the 
two are but loosely connected together. The outer bark is of a 
grayish-brown colour, traversed by longitudinal and transverse 
furrows, having, here and there, white and grayish-white crusty 
growths, covered with a foliated lichen. The inner bark is of a 
dark red-brown on its outer surface, and after the outer bark 
has been separated, is somewhat smooth : on the inner side, it is 
of a brighter reddish-brown, and, probably owing to the lacer- 
ation of the woody splinters, somewhat fibrous. The younger 
bark is smooth in the fracture, and of a dull splendour. The 
older bark, which is thicker, is unequal, and may often be sepa- 
rated into fibrous layers, which are readily lacerable. When 
chewed, it has a tolerably strong, astringent, somewhat bitter 
and disagreeable taste, but it does not excite nausea, or leave 
any arrilre-gout. It has scarcely any smell. In its chemical 
relations, it resembles rhatany.* 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Merrem, who made numerous experiments with the bark, 
affirms, that whilst it possesses the properties of astringents in 
genera], and to a high degree, it is rather sedative than exciting ; 
agrees with the digestive organs, and aids the peristaltic action. 
He employed it, first, with more or less success, in hemorrhage 
— in epistuxis, hsemoptysis, and metrorrhagia ; and Gunthert 
found it very efficacious in profuse menstruation arising from 
atony of the uterus. Secondly ; in mucous discharges, as leucor- 
rhoea, blennorrhcea,&.c. Thirdly ; in inflammatory and exan- 
thematous affections — as cynanche, urticaria, and in periodical 
erysipelas of the face. Fourthly ; in nervous diseases, especially 
when associated with disturbance of the menstrual function, and 
leucorrhcea : and, fifthly ; in weakness and catarrhs of the genital 
organs, bladder and rectum. The Indians consider, that the 
bark affects especially the generative apparatus, and, from the 



* See the analysis by Hofrath Trommsdorff, in Brande's Archiv. B. xxxiii. 
S. 260; and Dierbach in Heidelberg. Annalen, B. x. H. 3. S. 367. Heidelb. 
1834. 

t In Harless Rhein-Westphal. Jahrbuchern, B. viii. St. 1, S. 72; and 
Brande's Archiv. Band xi. S. 200. 



CORTEX ADSTRINGENS BRASILIENSIS. 199 

experiments of Merrem, it would seem, that its agency is more 
particularly exerted in cases of leucorrhcea ; and in many, after 
the cinchona had been administered without effect.* 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Merrem prescribed it in various forms. He gave the powder 
in doses of from 9j. to jss., three or four times a day, mixed with 
water. It appeared to him to act most beneficially in cases of 
mucous discharges unaccompanied by disorder of the digestive 
functions ; and he found, that the powder was better borne by 
some than the decoction, which is singular, as the woody matter 
is more apt, in such cases, to disagree. He rarely gave it com- 
bined with aromatics, and never found the combination of use. 
To form the decoction, an ounce of the coarsely powdered bark 
was boiled with sixteen ounces of water, down to gviij. ; and to 
this an ounce of syrup was added. The dose was from one to 
two spoonfuls every two hours. Merrem also prepared an 
extract, and a tincture, in the same manner as these prepa- 
rations are made of cinchona ; of the former, he took from one 
to two drams, dissolved it in six ounces of an aromatic water, 
and added gss. of syrup. Of the mixture, a spoonful was given 
every hour. 

Externally, the decoction was injected three times a day in 
leucorrhcea, and in blennorrhcea ; or, in the former disease, a 
sponge imbued with the decoction was introduced, and kept 
there for some time. It has been applied, also, as an astringent 
to ulcers. 



Mistura corticis Brasiliensis adstringentis. 

Mixture of the astringent bark of Brazil. 

1£. Decoct, cort. adstring. Brazil, f.^vij. 
Copaib. cum vitelli ovi, q. s. subact. 
Tinct. ferri pomati, iia. f-3*j- 
Syrup. balsam, f.gj. M. 

Dose. — A spoonful every two hours, in obstinate gonorrhoea 
and leucorrhcea. Merrem. 

* Osann, in Encyc Worterbuch der Medicin. Wissensch. viii. 541. 



200 CORYLUS ROSTRATA. 

R. Cort. adstring. Brazil. §ss. 
Coque cum aquae fontan. q. s. 
Sub fin. coction. adde 

Sabin. §ss. 
Colaturse, §viij. adde 

Syrup, aurant. cort. f.^j. 

Dose. — A spoonful every hour, in cancer of the uterus, and 
in the hemorrhage thence arising. Merrem. 



LVI. COR'YLUS ROSTRATA. 

Synonyme. Beaked Hazel. 

Beaked hazel is a shrub two or three feet high ; Natural 
Order, Amentaceas; Suborder, Cupuliferae ; Sexual System, 
Monoecia Polyandria ; which grows in the mountainous regions 
of North America. The nut, which it produces, is of an ovate 
shape, surrounded by a coriaceous and scaly involucre or cupula, 
terminating in a tube an inch and a half long, covered with short 
and thick bristles, very similar to those of mucuna or cowhage.* 

EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The short, stiff, bristles have been found to possess similar 
anthelmintic virtues with mucuna, and to be equal to it in all 
respects. Mr. Duhamel states, that Dr. Heubener of Bethlehem, 
Pennsylvania, from whom he obtained the specimen described 
by him, had employed it in cases of worms,dLiid was much pleased 
with it. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

It may be given, like mucuna, in syrup, melasses, or other 
consistent vehicle, and in the same doses. 

* A. Duhamel, Amer. Journal of Pharmacy, Jan. 1843. 



CREASOTUM. 201 



LVII. CREASOTUM. 



Synontmes. Creasoton, Creosoton, Creosotum, Kreosoton, Kreosotum, 

Creosote, Creasote, Kreosote, Kreasote. 
German. Kreosot. 

This substance was first discovered, a few years ago, by Rei- 
chenbach, of Blansko, and is extensively employed as a thera- 
peutical agent. Its marked chemical properties suggested, that 
it might be possessed of a decided influence on the economy, 
and numerous experiments were immediately instituted to test 
the accuracy of the notion. These were of the most opposite 
character ; and it is not surprising, as in every similar case, that 
there should have been great discrepancy in the results, and in 
the opinions deduced therefrom. There can be no doubt, how- 
ever, that creasote forms a valuable addition to the list of our 
remedial agents. 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

The process given by Koene,* is esteemed one of the best for 
preparing it on a large scale ; — almost the only way in which 
it is formed : we, consequently, meet with it only in commerce. 
Hence it is in the Materia Medica list of the Pharmacopoeia of 
the United States (1S42), — not amongst the preparations. 

Tar, derived from pit-coal, is distilled in a retort provided with 
a long tube, having a large mouth. Under this is placed a re- 
ceiver. The oil, which comes over first, swims on water; and 
it is necessary to remove, from time to time, the products of the 
distillation, until an oil is obtained, which sinks in water. When 
this is the case, the product is collected. The heavy oil, obtained 
during the distillation, condenses not only in the receiver, but in 
the tube of the retort, where it unites with the naphthaline, form- 
ing a butyraceous substance. By applying a gentle heat, the 
mass drops into the receiver. The product is now allowed to 
remain in a cool place for some hours, after which it is pressed. 
The expressed naphthaline still contains oil, which is separated 
by heating it with its own weight of acetic acid, until it melts. 
After allowing it to cool, the crystallised naphtha is pressed, and 
the acid adhering to the creasote is saturated with carbonate of 

* Annales de Chimie et de Physique, Jnillet, 1835. See Cormack ou 
Creosote, p. 36, Lond. 1836 ; or the Amer. edit, in Dunfrlison's American Me- 
dical Library ; also, Turner's Chemistry, 5th edit. p. 872, and Christison, Dis- 
pensatory, p. 374, Edinb. 1842. 



202 CREASOTUM. 

potassa. The creasote is now to be shaken for a quarter of an 
hour with phosphoric acid, — the proportions being half an ounce 
of the acid to twenty ounces of the oil. The mixture ought then 
to be agitated with its bulk of water, and afterwards be distilled 
with a graduated heat, care being taken to separate the oil which 
floats on the surface. The rectified oil is now to be dissolved 
in its own volume of a hot solution of caustic potassa, s. g. 
1.120. When it has been allowed to cool for half an hour, the 
supernatant oil is removed, and the heavy oil again treated 
with caustic potassa, only a fourth part of the solution being, 
however, employed this time. On uniting the solutions of po- 
tassa^ slight excess of diluted phosphoric acid is added, and the 
free creasote, which floats on the surface, is separated. It is 
again rectified ; and the first product — which is chiefly water 
— being rejected, the creasote comes over pure. M. Koene re- 
commends the substance, thus prepared, to be preserved in bot- 
tles, covered with black paper. 

A protracted and complex process, like the above, necessarily 
makes the drug expensive, especially as the quantity obtained 
is but small. M. Koene procured by it ten drams from thirty- 
two ounces of tar. M. Lemere, one of the first Parisian phar- 
maciens who made pure creasote, obtained from eight hundred 
pounds of tar about six pounds of creasote. 

Reichenbach generally prepared it from the tar of the beech 
by six distillations; dissolving it afterwards in a solution of caus- 
tic potassa three times, setting it free successively by sulphuric 
acid.* 

Giordanot has recommended the following simplified mode for 
obtaining it. Distil wood tar from the willow, at an elevated 
temperature, from a tinned copper retort, until the residue has 
the consistence of soft pitch. Re-distil the liquor passed over 
till its residue resembles the former. The liquor, neutralised by 
carbonate of potassa, or lime-water, is re-distilled till all the oil 
of creasote has passed over. The oil is dissolved in caustic 
potassa, from which, after simmering a little, in a porcelain ves- 
sel, and cooling, the eupione, which floats, is easily separated. 
The same operation is repeated with the eupione, to remove all 
the oil that is united with it. The saponaceous liquor, treated 

* For an account of this and other products of the destructive distillation of 
vegetable matter, see Ctfrmack, Op. cit. Reichenbach's observations and ex- 
periments are contained in a work entitled " Das Kreosot in chemischer, phy- 
sischer und medicinischer Beziehung, von Dr. K. Reichenbach, u. s. w. zweite 
mit Nachtragen und Zusatzen von Schweigger-Seidel verm. Ausgabe. Leipz. 
1835 ;" see, also, Annales de Chimie, liii. 325. Paris, 1833. 

f Annali di Medicina, Aprile, 1835, and Br. and For. Med. Rev. July, 1836, 
p. 283. For the process of Calderini, see Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. for 
Oct. 1834; and for that of M. Cozzi, see Journal de Uhimie Medicale, and 
American Journal of Pharmacy, Jan. 1839, p. 339. 



CREASOTUM. 203 

with dilute sulphuric acid, is distilled into water, from which the 
creasote is separated, and the water saturated with creasote is 
kept for external use, or re-distilled for a concentrated acetic 
acid of a pungent and most agreeable odour. 

Creasote is a colourless, transparent fluid. Its refractive power 
is very great, and in angular glass vessels it is beautifully irides- 
cent. Its odour is penetrating, and disagreeable, but not offen- 
sive : many compare it to that of castor. It adheres to every 
thing, and is somewhat permanent. Its taste is at first very 
burning and caustic to the tongue ; but on admixture with the 
saliva, it becomes somewhat sweetish. It has an oleaginous 
feel, and is of about the consistence of oil of almonds. Its specific 
gravity, at 68° Fahr., is stated by Reichenbach to be 1037 ; but 
Dr. Christison* affirms, that he has never found it lower than 
1065 or higher than 1067. The fact is, of course, of interest in 
relation to its adulterations. It boils at 397°, and at — 17° does 
not congeal. When placed on paper, it forms a greasy spot, 
which, however, disappears after a while, and can be removed 
by the application of a heated body, without any residue. It is 
a non-conductor of electricity. With water at 68°, it unites in 
two different proportions ; — one of the combinations consisting 
of H of creasote and 100 of water; the other of 10 parts of 
water and 1 00 parts of creasote. The taste of the first mixture — 
creasote water — is very burning at first, and afterwards sweetish, 
like that of pure creasote, but of course weaker. A drop of 
creasote in 10,000 parts of water produces a marked impression 
on the tongue, and has a smoky smell Litmus and turmeric 
paper are not in the least changed by it ; so that it has neither an 
acid nor an alkaline reaction. At both poles of the galvanic 
battery, it furnishes numerous and striking combinations. It 
does not possess the property of the ordinary empyreumatic oils, 
of becoming yellow and inspissated. It dissolves iodine, phos- 
phorus, and sulphur. Acetic acid at 1.070, and alcohol, dissolve 
it in all proportions, and with the latter it is often adulterated. t 
Ether and petroleum likewise combine with it in all proportions. 
With potassa, it forms two or three combinations, one of which 
crystallises. Resins and resinous bodies either decompose crea- 
sote, or it decomposes them. With balsams, fixed and volatile 
oils, camphor, and the vegetable alkaloids it unites readily. It 
coagulates albumen, and its antiseptic property is most remark- 
able, whence its name, from *§«*c, 'flesh,' and <r«£a>, ' I preserve :' 
— o-utv, ' preserver.' Fresh meat, placed in creasote water for 
half an hour or an hour, and then taken out and dried, may be 

* Dispensatory, p. 374, Edinb. 1842. 

t Journal de Chim. Med. and Amer. Journal of Pharmacy, July, 1841, 
p. 112. 



204 CREASOTUM. 

exposed to the heat of the sun without undergoing putrefaction. 
Nay, when flesh has begun to be putrid, the process ceases after 
it has been washed with creasote water, and if suffered to remain 
immersed in it for an hour, it does not subsequently putrefy. 
There can be but little doubt, consequently, that creasote is the 
main antiseptic and conservative principle of pyroligneous acid, 
and of tar water. From the experiments made by Reichenbach 
to determine the exact components of the flesh on which the 
creasote acts, he arrived at the following results. It unites with 
the albumen and red particles of the blood in the flesh, which it 
coagulates, without acting on the fleshy fibre, which serves 
merely as the frame-work for the coagulated matters ; and it is 
well known that dried albumen does not putrefy, but becomes 
hard, brittle, and transparent. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

Reichenbach has properly remarked, that the excessive burning 
pain in the tongue, which creasote causes, must have at once 
suggested it to be a poisonous substance. It was soon found, 
that plants, sprinkled with creasote water, died ; that fish placed 
in it were convulsed ; and that small animals, as wasps and flies, 
died when touched with the pure article. If a small quantity 
of it be spread upon the hand, and washed off a minute after- 
wards, the place is found to present a white appearance, but 
without pain or inflammation. In the course of a few days, the 
place becomes dry, and the cuticle desquamates. When creasote 
is applied to a part where the epidermis is deficient, or to a 
wound, instantaneously an extremely violent burning pain is ex- 
perienced, which continues for eight or ten minutes ; but if the 
part be carefully washed, it gradually ceases. The cause of this 
is conceived to be the property which creasote possesses of coagu- 
lating albumen ; and, where blood is flowing, of arresting it. 
If the rapid disturbance which it excites, affects important 
organs, death results sooner or later according to their import- 
ance in the economy : relief, however, may be afforded by those 
substances that dissolve coagulated albumeu, as caustic alkalies, 
acetic acid, &c. It is probable, however, that the poisonous 
properties result from its acrid character. 

To appreciate the physiological effects of creasote, experiments 
have been undertaken by many individuals. Miguet gave a 
young dog, for eight days, an ounce a day of distilled water con- 
taining four drops of creasote, without any effect. When, how- 
ever, he doubled the dose, nausea, languor, subsultus tendinum 
and tremors occurred, followed, in the course of a few days, by 
marked emaciation. On discontinuing the creasote, the functions 



CREASOTUM. 205 

gradually resumed their pristine condition, and the animal reco- 
vered its flesh. To another dog, he gave at once two drams 
in half an ounce of water, and immediately thereafter great 
prostration of the muscular system ensued, — vertigo, fixed eyes, 
stupor, dyspnoea, accumulation of mucus in the air passages, 
spasmodic cough, discharge of large quantities of foamy saliva, 
with vomiting of a milky matter, although the animal had taken 
nothing of the kind. After two hours of suffering, the animal 
died of convulsions. The body was immediately opened : all 
the tissues, except the liver, exhaled a strong smell of creasote ; 
and the whole of the mucous membrane of the intestinal canal 
was inflamed. The matters contained in the stomach coagulated 
when placed in contact with albumen. When heated, they 
yielded a thick smoke, and a marked smell of creasote. In the 
heart and large vessels, the blood was more firmly coagulated 
than usual : the lungs were gorged with blood ; in the brain 
there was no evidence either of congestion or hemorrhage. 

In another dog, into whose carotid equal portions of water and 
creasote were injected, death resulted with similar phenomena, 
but more rapidly. The precise quantity of creasote used in this 
experiment is not stated. 

Simon, in his experiments, found that when ten drops of 
creasote, diluted, were injected into a vein, scarcely any effect 
resulted, 

Reiter and Miiller, who, likewise, made experiments on ani- 
mals, agree with Simon as to the result of injections of creasote 
into the veins ; no special symptoms were induced by it, but this 
appeared to be owing to the blood being instantaneously coagu- 
lated by it, which not only prevented the farther progress of the 
creasote, but also of the blood; hence no evil consequences re- 
sulted ; and it is probable, as Riecke has suggested,* that the 
weaker the solution of creasote, within certain limits, the greater 
may be its effect on the mass of blood. 

Corneliani,t an Italian physician, has also instituted a series of 
experiments with creasote on lambs, rabbits, &c. All these 
animals bore small doses of creasote — however unwillingly it 
might be taken — without any remarkable results, and without 
loss of appetite. Large doses, however, immediately occasioned 
general torpor, sudden inclination to pass the urine, paralysis — 
especially of ihc lower extremities — with or without convul- 
sions, and frequently the ejection of a bloody foam. When the 
doses were large, and it was but little diluted, death took place 
in a few minutes, and on examination, the inner lining of the 

* Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. S. 153. 

f Giornale delle Scienze Mcdino-Chirurgiche, No. 8. Febrajo, 1835 ; Brit, 
and For. Med. lievicvv, p. 2G5, Jan. 1830, and Journ. de Chimie Medicale, 
F6v. 1836. 

IS 



206 CREASOTTJM. 

stomach was generally found corroded, yet not so constantly as 
to allow of death being ascribed to that circumstance. 

It followed, farther, from his experiments, that pure creasote 
applied to a denuded nerve, or injected only in small quantities 
into a vein, may occasion death suddenly, and that the applica- 
tion of the creasote to extensive wounded surfaces in the same 
animals may be ultimately followed by fatal consequences. 

Where a very large dose of creasote was administered, imme- 
diate death was produced without organic lesion. 

In the trials made with it by Dr. Elliotson* he found no action 
produced upon the bowels ; but it sometimes augmented the 
quantity of urine. He once saw it, in the dose of a minim three 
times a day, cause micturition nine times in an hour. In 
another case, in doses of three minims, it produced severe 
strangury. 

According to Simon, when applied to the muscles, it destroys 
the surface Tike a caustic. Muller and Reiter, in their experi- 
ments, found, that it speedily rendered the muscular fibres of a 
dirty-whitish appearance, and readily lacerable. When applied 
to the fresh blood of the hog, it converted the colour in an instant 
to an ashy-gray; after which it became black and quickly coagu- 
lated. Mixed, either pure or diluted, with blood, it thickens it; 
the mixture assumes a brown-red colour, and is found studded 
with small white points, which are nothing more than coagulated 
albumen. On exposing the coagulum to the air, it assumes a 
yellowish-red colour. Reich, on the other hand, who appears to 
have made many experiments with creasote, both in internal and 
external diseases, affirms, that he has never observed any caustic 
effect from it ; from which assertion, as Riecke has remarked,! 
the only inference to be deduced is, that he must always have 
applied it largely diluted. Fremanger likewise asserts, that when 
pure creasote is applied to the epidermis, it does not destroy it; 
but merely occasions more or less redness of the skin. When 
applied to a suppurating surface, it caused, instantaneously, the 
formation of a white pellicle, owing to its coagulating the albu- 
men contained in the secretion from the wound. Adventitious 
tissues, with which it is brought in contact, are destroyed by it. 
When placed between the lips of a wound, it prevents healing 
by the first intention, by coagulating the albumen ; and, conse- 
quently, it may be employed in all cases where it is desirable to 
prevent the growing together of parts. Fremanger, is, indeed, 
disposed to refer all its efficacy to the action which it exerts on 
albumen. 

Its long continued use often occasions an inflammatory condi- 

* Medico-Chirurg. Transact, vol. xix. Lond. 1835. 
f Op. cit. S. 154. 



CREASOTUM. 207 

tion which, as Dr. J. L. Da Luz* observes, has nothing in com- 
mon with the disease for the cure of which it may have been 
prescribed. In a case of porrigo favosa, treated by it recently by 
the author, febrile irritation supervened, and the head was covered 
by an artificial eruption, which induced, however, a new action 
in the system of nutrition of the scalp, and after its subsidence, 
the porrigo was cured. 

Dr. Cormack, of Edinburgh, has likewise instituted various 
experiments on the lower animals to test the physiological effects 
of creasote.t In three experiments, about twenty-five drops of 
pure creasote were injected into the venous system of dogs. All 
the animals died. In every case of poisoning by it, which he 
has observed, Dr. Cormack found the following to be the symp- 
toms : — Its first deleterious action was a powerful one of seda- 
tion on the heart ; the vital energies of that organ seeming to be 
instantaneously paralysed. In some instances, hurried and 
sonorous respiration went on for more than a minute after the 
heart had ceased to beat. In general, one or two convulsions, 
resembling the tetanic, preceded death ; and, almost invariably 
before expiring; the animal uttered one or more shrill cries. In 
every instance, the atony of the heart immediately after death 
was very striking. 

From other experiments it appears, that when creasote is 
injected into the arteries the deleterious effects are of a much 
milder character, and if the dose be not large, the animal may 
experience but little inconvenience ; a circumstance, which 
proves the importance of a thorough admixture with the blood 
before the poisonous article reaches the heart ; such admixture 
not taking place to the necessary extent, when the poison is 
injected into the veins, but being readily effected when injected 
into the arteries, and consequently distributed through the system 
of nutrition. 

When taken for any length of time, the urine acquires a black- 
ish hue, and in some cases creasote may be recognised in it.| 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

Creasote has been administered in various diseases ; the fol- 
lowing may be esteemed a summary of the chief therapeutical 
experiments made with it. 

1. Hemorrhage. — The discovery of creasote happened at a 



* Jornal da Sociedade das Sciencas Medicas de Lisboa, torn. v. Lisboa, 1837 ; 
reviewed in Zeitschrift fur die gesammte Medicin. Oct. 1838, S. 224. 
f Op. cit. p. C6. 
% Dr. Macleod, in Med. Gaz. xvi. 599, and xvii. C53. 



208 CREASOTUM. 

time, when the Acqua Binelli enjoyed more confidence as a 
styptic than it does now ; and the fancied probability, that the 
nostrum was indebted to creasote for its properties, gave rise to 
many experiments with the latter in cases of hemorrhage. One 
of the first, who instituted experiments with it on rabbits, was 
G. Simon. Not being able to obtain any striking results from 
the Acqua Binelli, he tried creasote, pure, as well as in the form 
of creasote water, and of an emulsion prepared with gum arabic ; 
and from the results of these he was led to affirm, that although 
creasote occasioned the coagulation of the albumen of the blood, 
it acted no better as a styptic than cold water. With the Acqua 
Binelli he was not able to coagulate albumen. The rapid sepa- 
ration of the albumen in the form of a reddish-gray coagulum 
under the influence of creasote, he found to be of no advantage, 
as the mass remained soft and pulpy ; and the wound in the vessel 
could not close, but was immediately opened by the stream of 
blood. Neither did he esteem it adapted for arresting trifling 
hemorrhages ; for, when very much diluted, it is still too exciting 
to the injured parts, and markedly delays their union. This, 
indeed, might, he thinks, be expected from the fact, that pure 
creasote, when placed on the skin for ten or twenty minutes, 
induces superficial inflammation. 

The experiments of other physicians have been decidedly more 
favourable. Muller and Reiter,* for example, in theirs, found 
that creasote was far more efficacious than the Acqua Binelli, 
for, when the latter was prescribed, it was always necessary to 
have recourse to other agents, before the hemorrhage was 
arrested. In their experiments on dogs, they found the hemor- 
rhage from a divided crural vein quickly cease, when a com- 
press of cotton, wetted with creasote, was placed on the vessel, 
with a moderate degree of pressure. Three days afterwards, 
the crural artery was exposed on the same dog, and divided; 
but it was afterwards necessary to tie it, as the creasote, in con- 
sequence of the excessive hemorrhage, could not be brought 
into immediate contact with the vessel, but merely acted on the 
superficial layer of blood, and therefore did not arrest the hemor- 
rhage. 

The crural artery of a young and tolerably strong dog was 
cut a short distance above its division, compression being at the 
same time exerted upon the trunk. The artery did not bleed. 
Nine minutes afterwards, a compress of cotton soaked in creasote 
was applied immediately to the divided extremity of the artery, 
with some degree of pressure. When the compress was re- 

* Schmidt's Jahrbuch, cited in Encyclographie des Sciences Medicales, 
Mars, 1837. See, also, Burdach, Medicin. Zeitung. Jahrgang, 1840, No. 31, 
cited in Lond. and Edinb. Monthly Journal of Med. Science, May, 1842. 



CREASOTUM. 209 

moved, the bleeding was entirely arrested, and the wounded 
surface was dry, and had an ashy-gray hue. In an old dog, 
hemorrhage from a divided crural artery was arrested by the 
same means, but not so speedily. When the artery was examined, 
it was found to be wholly closed, having a navel-like depression 
at the extremity, which disappeared when the vessel was pressed 
upon, and ultimately became conical. Within the vessel there 
was a conical coagulum, which could be readily detached ; and 
for the space of a line, the artery appeared inflamed through its 
coats. 

In arteries that had been divided for a longer time, the union 
was likewise complete ; but there was this difference, that the 
inflammation at the end of the vessel had disappeared, and a 
pointed fibrous caruncle was observed in the vessel, which was 
doubtless the fibrinous portion of the previous coagulum. 

From their experiments, Miiller and Reiter were led to con- 
firm the hsemastatic properties of creasote, both when the hemor- 
rhage occurs from veins and from arteries. The arteries divided 
were of considerable size, larger than the radial artery of an 
adult male. They consider pressure indispensable to occasion 
the creasote to act immediately on the artery ; and the arrest of 
the hemorrhage, they ascribe, not alone to the coagulation of 
the blood, but to the contraction of the arteries. In parenchy- 
matous hemorrhage, creasote water was generally sufficient ; as 
well as in tolerably extensive wounds of the surface. 

Horing, also, obtained satisfactory results from his experiments 
on animals. He exposed, on an old cat, the crural artery and 
vein of the right side ; made a small incision into the latter, and 
pressed upon it to stop the copious flow which ensued : he then 
applied over the wound, for two minutes, a small compress of 
lint, wetted with a solution of creasote — two drops to one hun- 
dred of water — and the bleeding ceased. The artery was now 
opened, and a similar compress placed upon it with the same 
result. Two days afterwards, a second experiment was made 
of the same kind, except that, owing to the struggles of the ani- 
mal, a larger opening was made into the crural artery. In this 
case, it was necessary to apply the compress for four minutes 
before the hemorrhage ceased. In another cat, a large trans- 
verse incision was made on the inner surface of the right thigh, 
above the middle, by which muscles, arteries, veins, and nerves 
were divided. Two large compresses of lint, wetted with a 
solution of creasote, were then pressed on the parts for five 
minutes, and the bleeding entirely ceased. The like result was 
obtained in the case of an old horse, whose jugular vein was 
opened. But the creasote solution did not succeed in wholly 
arresting the hemorrhage in the same horse, when an opening 
was made into the crural vein and artery. 
18* 



210 CREASOTUM. 

To these experiments on animals may be added some that 
were instituted on the human subject, and which testify, more 
or less, to the efficacy of creasote as a heemastatic. Hahn applied 
it in some insignificant cases, but saw no better effect from it 
than from cold water. Most found it speedily arrest slight he- 
morrhage from small vessels. Horing applied it successfully in 
cases of epistaxis, which had obstinately resisted other agents, — 
two plugs of lint, dipped in a solution of creasote being inserted 
in the nostrils, after which the hemorrhage soon ceased. Ficht- 
dauer employed it with equally advantageous results in violent 
bleeding from leech bites, after several hsemastatics had been 
used in vain ; and Heyfelder extols it for arresting hemorrhage 
from large wounded surfaces. 

Berthelot differs with Frernanger and Simon, who affirm that 
union by the first intention is prevented by it. The results of 
his observation were entirely opposite. Miguet applied it suc- 
cessfully as a haemastatic in fresh wounds on man and animals. 
Both pure creasote and a solution of it were, however, unsuc- 
cessfully used by Bardiliin hemorrhage from the arteria tibialis 
poslica, which he ascribed to the blood having lost its albumen, 
owing to the excessive discharge. Reich and Hauff found injec- 
tions with creasote water very useful in hsemorrhagia uteri. 
Schneider had a case of hemorrhage that had continued for seven 
hours in a man eighty years old, and which proceededyrow the 
gums of the upper jaw ; the blood oozing as from the pores of a 
sponge. He directed the man to take as much creasote water 
into his mouth as he was able ; and after three repetitions the 
hemorrhage ceased, and did not recur. 

Kohler* endeavoured to test the haemastatic operation upon 
himself. He made an incision in his forearm an inch long, and 
three or four lines deep, to which he applied creasote water. A 
lancinating pain was felt in the wound, but no other sensible ef- 
fect. A drop of pure creasote was now let fall between the lips 
of the wound : this was followed by a sensation of burning and 
drawing ; for a moment coagulated flakes of a whitish-gray co- 
lour covered the wound, and there was a temporary cessation to 
the flow : it soon, however, recurred. After a time the hemor- 
rhage ceased; but not sooner — Kohler thinks — than if cold 
water had been applied. The feeling of burning and drawing 
continued, however, for some time ; the edges of the wound were 
somewhat swollen, and oedematous, and, in about four hours, 
were covered with a yellowish-brown lymph ; but there seemed 
to be no delay in the cicatrisation. 

In a case of lithotomy, it was found impossible to arrest the 



* Neue wissenschaftlich. Annalen, u. s. w. B. i. H. 3. S. 285. Berlir 
1835. 



CREASOTTTM. 211 

hemorrhage by any of the usual means, and no particular vessel 
could be discovered from which the blood flowed. The patient 
was at last reduced to the lowest ebb, from the continued loss 
of blood, and had already lost consciousness, when a sponge, 
dipped in pure creasote, was introduced into the wound, and 
pressed against the bleeding parts for an instant or two. The 
hemorrhage was immediately arrested. No particular pain was 
experienced ; no unpleasant symptoms occurred ; thin eschars 
were thrown off, and the patient recovered.* 

J. L. da Luzf found it an excellent styptic in capillary hemor- 
rhage; but in hemorrhage from great vessels it did not prevent 
a recurrence of the bleeding. 

In haemoptysis, the internal use of creasote has been found 
beneficial. SantiniJ prescribed it in a desperate case with com- 
plete success, and with Schmalz it was equally effective ; on the 
other hand, it was of little avail in Guitti's hands. 

In hsematemesis, it succeeded in the hands of Dr. Isaac Par- 
rish of Philadelphia, § after the remedies generally employed in 
such cases had failed to produce any effect. 

2. Burns. — Most used creasote with decided relief in burns 
of the second and third degree, applied by means of rags wetted 
with creasote water. Berthelot also cured two cases quickly 
with it ; the slightly burnt places becoming desiccated ; the more 
severe healing by the formation of a crust. Guitti applied both 
creasote water and creasote ointment with advantage in burns 
which had proceeded to profuse suppuration; hence, it has been 
advised, — 

3. In profuse suppuration, on the authority of Levrat and 
Berthelot, but according to J. L. da Luz,|| it has no marked in- 
fluence on the secretion of pus, and is therefore useless in suppu- 
rating abscesses. In otorrhcea it has been especially beneficial. 

4. Lesions of the integuments. — According to Reichenbach, 
creasote is of essential service in the intertrigo of children, as 
well as in the excoriation induced by lying. In the latter case, 
Guitti used it with success. Hahn also frequently employed it. 
In cases where ulceration had not taken place, he washed the 
parts several times a day with creasote water, and was of opi- 
nion that he had prevented, in some cases, the occurrence of 
ulceration. Where ulceration had already taken place, he co- 
vered the parts with linen rags, folded two or three times, which 
he soaked in creasote water, and fixed them on by means of ad- 

* Dr. Daser, Edinb. Medical and Surgical Journal, Oct. 1841. 
| Op. cit. 

X Gazetta Therapeutica di Verona, Mars, 1834 ; and Amer. Journal of the 
Med. Sciences, Feb. 1836, p. 502. 

§ Medical Examiner, Aug. 10, 1839, p. 501. 
|| Op. cit. 



212 CREASOTUM. 

hesive straps. The superficial ulcers soon healed ; and the deeper 
were transformed into hollow surfaces, secreting a homogeneous 
serous fluid, but no pus. 

Horing employed creasote water with advantage in sore nip- 
ples ; and creasote ointment has been recommended by Dr. Fife,* 
in sprains and contusions. 

5. In chilblains, whether ulcerated or not, Hahnt used crea- 
sote washes successfully ; — the affection yielding in a few days ; 
and Dr. HerndonJ regards creasote ointment as the best remedy 
in that affection with which he is acquainted. 

6. Ulcers. — Fissures of the skin and superficial ulcers, accord- 
ing to Hahn, were changed, under the application of creasote 
water, into a blackish-brown scab, which adhered for a long 
time, and when it fell off, left the parts healed ; or by occasioning 
too much shrinking, gave rise to fresh inflammation and suppura- 
tion. Deeper ulcers were affected in the same manner as those 
caused by long lying. 

The efficacy of this agent in atonic and varicose ulcers, espe- 
cially of the leg, has been attested by Levrat, Berthelot, Rossi, 
Hechenberger, and others ; but Guitti, Heyfelder, and Schmalz 
were less satisfied with it. A case of indolent ulcer between 
the knee and ankle, accompanied with a good deal of inflamma- 
tion, was cured by Dr. Crary, in five weeks, by the application 
of a solution of creasote (ten drops to the ounce of water), with 
methodical compression to the limb, by means of a bandage.§ 
Meister found the application of creasote water, in cases of 
carious, scrojihulous, syphilitic, fistulous, and sanious ulcers, to 
be strikingly, and almost uniformly advantageous. Heyfelder, 
likewise, found it extraordinarily useful in scrophulous ulcers, 
and Dr. Cormack|| states, that he had an opportunity of seeing a 
case of the kind treated by Dr. Shortt, in the Royal Infirmary 
of Edinburgh, where an extensive scrophulous ulcer of the hip, 
after resisting a variety of treatment, at last yielded to creasote, 
and was ultimately completely cicatrised. On the other hand, 
Otto tried both pure creasote and the watery solution in ulcers 
of various kinds, especially the scrophulous : the ulcers very 
generally put on, in the course of twenty-four hours, a cleaner 
appearance ; still they did not cicatrise, on which account Otto 
prefers, in old ulcerations at least, the use of a solution of chlo- 
rinated lime ; for notwithstanding creasote diminished and im- 
proved the character of the suppuration from scrophulous ulcers, 



* Lond. Med. Gaz., April 7, 1838, p. 66. 

f Gazette Medicale de Paris, Dec. 1834. 

\ American Med. Intelligencer, for March 15, 1838, p. 425. 

§ Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, July 3, 1839, p. 332. 

|j Op. cit. p. 106. 



CREASOTUM. 213 

and rendered them cleaner, it did not ameliorate the general 
condition ; — after the diminution of the suppuration, local pains, 
loss of sleep, and slight febrile movements generally supervening. 
On these accounts, Otto does not think creasote applicable to 
scrophulous ulcers in general. 

Many observers depose to the good effects of creasote in 
scrophulous caries. Among these may be mentioned Hahn, 
Coster, Ritgen, Fremanger and Hauff. In fistulous ulcers — 
also of syphilitic origin — several physicians have employed it 
beneficially. Dr. Fife,* of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, found it useful 
not merely in obstinate but in malignant ulcers. In no case of 
ulceration, he affirms, in which he tried it, did it disappoint his 
expectations. In a sloughing carbuncle, the alcoholic solution, 
(thirty drops to the ounce,) mixed with carrot poultices, was 
applied with advantage by Dr. Herndon,t of Culpeper C. H., 
Virginia. 

In scurvy and in scorbutic ulcers, M. CoenJ found its use fol- 
lowed by excellent results, and he refers to cases in which it has 
been administered internally with very great advantage. 

J. L. da Luz§ considers it an excellent cleansing remedy in 
atonic ulcers, but its prolonged use, he thinks, retards cicatrisa- 
tion. In hospital gangrene, he esteems it the best antiseptic, 
and the most powerful means for checking its terrific progress. 

In gangrenous or sloughing ulcers, Hahn used it. Several 
times a day he penciled the slough with pure creasote, and, in 
the intervals, fomented it with creasote water. According to 
Reichenbach, two offensive affections of the labia pudendi — 
the consequences of infiltration of blood — were cured by it ; 
and Reich and Sir Francis Smith || treated with success cases of 
cancrum oris, and the former, one of scorbutic ulceration of the 
gums. 

In herpetic ulcers, Horing and Berthelot observed favourable 
effects from creasote water ; and it has been found especially 
useful in carcinomatous and syphilitic ulcers, in which it has 
been often employed. 

In cancer of the uterus, Wolff injected creasote water, in two 
cases, into the vagina. In one, the pain was so great, that, on 
the ninth day, after six pints of creasote water had been used, it 
was obliged to be discontinued. In the other case, the treatment 
was continued twenty-six days, and sixteen pints were used : in 
it, also, the pain was sensibly aggravated. The secretion was 

* Lond. Med. Gaz., April 7, 1838, p. 65. 

f Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intelligencer, March 15, 1838, p. 425. 
\ Giornale per servire, &c. di Venezia, 1836. 

\ Jornal da Sociedade das Sciencas de Lisboa, T. v. Lisboa, 1837 ; noticed 
in Zeitschrift fur die (jesammie Medicin. Oct. 1838, S. 224. 
|| Dublin Journal of Med. Science, for May, 1837. 



214 CREASOTUM. 

not improved in either case ; nor was hemorrhage prevented by 
it ; for one of the patients died immediately after an attack of 
this kind : the other lingered a long time. 

Heyfelder found injections of creasote water, in conjunction 
with the extractnm calendulas, of no use in cancer uteri. On 
the other hand, in a case of superficial ulceration of the os uteri, 
with copious discharge of a puriform mucus, which had been 
treated unsuccessfully by other agents, for several months, Hahn 
found an injection of creasote water effectual in fourteen days. 
Tealier* has likewise given a case of superficial ulcerations around 
the os uteri, to which nitrate of silver had been applied at least 
twenty times without inducing a cure. By touching the ulcers 
with lint fixed upon the end of a probe, and dipped in a mixture 
of one part of creasote and three parts of water, excessive pain 
was induced ; but this gradually passed away, and in six days 
the signs of ulceration had disappeared. It is more than doubt- 
ful, however, whether either of the two last cases was carcino- 
matous. 

In a case of cancer of the breast, a solution of creasote was 
applied by the same gentleman. This excited, instantaneously, 
violent pain, but after a time the pain ceased, and relief was ob- 
tained. 

Rossi saw a cancerous ulcer of the face healed by creasote 
ointment, but it soon broke out again. The same gentleman 
cured a. fungous tumour on the alveolar margin of the right os 
maxillare — which had occasioned the loss of all the teeth of 
that side except one, and which even the actual cautery had not 
prevented from returning — by a collutory of six drops of crea- 
sote in six ounces of water. 

Heyfelder saw creasote used without effect in a case of cancer 
of the skin, and Cormackt in one of lupus of the nose. On the 
other hand, Guitti cured an ulcer, in appearance cancerous, by 
the application of pure creasote, for which, at a later period, the 
solution was substituted, and Marchal has published a case of 
cancer of the lip in which he believes he accomplished a cure 
by means of creasote.J 

Garbiglietti cured a fungous ulcer with caries of 'the fbulaby 
creasote, but it is questionable whether the ulcer was carcino- 
matous ; and Meisinger saw a cancer of the face improved by 
the use of creasote ointment. 

It has been before remarked, that Meisinger used creasote 
with advantage in syphilitic ulcers. Hahn also applied creasote 
water in primary syphilitic sores ; the small, superficial ulcers 

* Revue Medicale, Fevrier, 1834. For similar cases, see Dr. Friese, in 
Berlin. Medicin. Zeitung, Nro. 13, 1837. 
t Op. cit. p. 115. 
\ Gazette Medicale de Paris, Fev. 1835. 



CREASOTUM. 215 

healed soon, the larger and deeper remained stationary. In a 
phagedic ulcerated bubo, the spreading was arrested, but this 
was all. According to Heyfelder,creasote — probably the pure 
— excited, in a case of primary syphilitic ulcer, in a plethoric 
individual, violent inflammation, and so much sensibility, that 
it was obliged to be discontinued. Berthelot cured a chancre, 
which had resisted caustics and other cicatrising agencies, in a 
few days, by creasote water. Rehfeld, also, treated secondary 
syphilitic ulcers successfully with it, giving, however, at the 
same time, the corrosive chloride of mercury inwardly. Chronic 
venereal ulcers have in some cases yielded to it, after they had 
resisted every other kind of treatment.* Dr. Biirkner, of Bres- 
lau,t reports a case, which, after having proved rebellious to 
every kind of general and local management that could be de- 
vised, at length yielded to the application of pure creasote by 
means of a camel's hair brush. The character of the secreted 
pus immediately improved ; the wound began to heal by granu- , 
lations from the base ; and, at the end of four weeks, Dr. Biirk- 
ner found his patient quite well. In condylomata, it has been 
equally successful. By the application of creasote water, Hahn 
found them contract and disappear ; but the more obstinate 
required to be penciled with pure creasote. Heyfelder, Reich,J 
Fricke, and Coen,§ also found creasote efficacious in these cases. 
The last gentleman but one had the most frequent opportunities 
for observation ; by him creasote, in a dilute state, was applied 
to the top of the condyloma by means of a pencil. In cases of 
small condylomata, touching them once or twice was sufficient 
for their removal ; of larger, it had to be more frequently re- 
peated. In some obstinate cases, it required two or three weeks 
before they disappeared ; but when once, they fell off, they did 
not return. 

7. Gonorrhoea, and Fluor albus. — Most extols creasote water 
as a remedy in gleet. He applies it either in the way of injec- 
tion, or by small tents wetted with it and introduced into the 
urethra. Influor albus,he strongly recommends both its inter- 
nal and external use. Reich injected creasote water in a case 
of gonorrhoea, and in one of malignant fluor albus ; yet its 
agency in these cases was doubtful, as copaiba was given at the 
same time. Hahn,§ also, used injections of creasote water in the 
second stage of gonorrhoea and in gleet ; but he did not think 

* Cormack, Op. citat. p. 107 ; and in Lond. and Edinb. Monthly Journ. of 
Med. Science, Oct. 1842. See, also, Kiinchel, in Bulletin Gener. de Thera- 
peutique, p. 313. Paris, 1833. 

f Casper's Wochenschrift, Sepr. 9, 1837, S. 583. 

X Hufeland's Journal, Jan. 1831, and Revue Modicale, Mai, 1834. 

§ Giornale per servire a progressi della patologia, &c. di Venezia,An. 1836. 

|| Gazette Mcdicale de Paris, Dec. 1834. 



216 CREASUTUM. ' 

that the discharge ceased sooner under its agency than under 
the ordinary means ; whilst in some cases, the inflammation was 
even augmented. In two cases oibenignjiuor albus, after many 
other remedies had been employed in vain. Schmalz saw good 
effects from the use of a solution of creasote ; but in a third case 
it afforded no relief. Dr. Elliotson* gave it internally to a female 
labouring under gonorrhoea, at first, in the dose of two minims 
to an ounce of water, and afterwards in the dose of four, six, 
and even eight minims, but no good resulted from it. 

The author has administered it not unfrequently in leucor- 
rhcea and other mucous discharges, and when persevered in, it 
has at times appeared to be of decided service.! 

Dr. Robert Dick,J of Glasgow, has called the attention of the 
profession to its use in the chronic stage of gonorrhoea, and in 
gleet. He thinks its beneficial effects are more obvious than 
those of copaiba. He administered it in doses of two drops with 
loaf sugar beaten into a syrup with water. 

S. Chronic cutaneous affections. — Reich treated a case of 
crusta lactea externally by creasote, and internally by the mild 
chloride and the black sulphuret of mercury. The result was 
favourable. In itch, it was recommended by its discoverer. 
Wolff, too, saw three cases of not very recent itch, cured in eight 
days by lotions of creasote water. Reich and Coen§ extol the 
water and the ointment in inveterate itch. J. L. Da Luz|| con- 
siders it as valuable as sulphur, but Otto did not find the water 
particularly efficacious. He gives strong testimony, however, in 
its favour, in herpetic eruptions: in a very short time, it induced 
evident improvement, and often removed the affection in from 
eight to fourteen days. When the cases were more chronic, a 
longer time was of course required for the cure. He never 
administered it, however, without attaining his object. His rule 
was, to bathe the affected parts twice a day with creasote water, 
and in particular cases he directed, in addition, general baths of 
warm water. The eruption commonly disappeared very rapidly 
under this management, but it speedily recurred unless general 
bathing was used at the same time. It again yielded, however, 
very readily to creasote water. Grandjean, Reich, and Kohler, 
also employed the water successfully in herpes; and Guitti found 
both the water and the ointment most serviceable in herpetic 
affections when combined with appropriate internal treatment. 
Heyfelder recommends that alterative drinks, as the decoctum 

* Lancet, for Dec. 1835, p. 435. 

f See, also, Coen, in Giornale per servire, &c. di Venezia, 1836. 
% Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. Apl. 1838, p. 602. 
\ Op. cit. 

|| Jornal da Sociedade das Sciencas Medicas de Lisboa, torn. v. Lisboa, 1837, 
noticed in Zeitschrift fur die gesammte Medicin. Oct. 1838, S. 224. 



CREASOTUM. 217 

sarsaparillae, should be combined with them. Even in herpes 
exedens, the external application of creasote was found effectual 
by Ritgen, Grandjean, and Rossi. Wolff* cured a case of an- 
cient impetigo in about eight weeks, by a solution of creasote 
( Creasot. 3ss. ; Aq. destillat. f-3 v.). At first, the application caused 
so much#heat and inflammation, that in eight days it was obliged 
to be discontinued, and afterwards it was alternated with fomen- 
tations of warm water from day to day until the cure was com- 
pleted. Dr. Herndon, of Culpeper C. H., Va., derived much 
benefit from the ointment in psoriasis. 

In a case of acne rosacea of seven years' standing, accompa- 
nied with headach, nervousness, thirst in the morning and acid 
eructations, for which the patient — a female — was put under 
treatment for a month, without success, Dr. Elliotsont deter- 
mined on trying creasote. The advantage was soon manifest, 
as in three days the eruption was evidently diminished. At 
first, she took two minims three times a day ; this was gradually 
augmented to twenty minims, — the farther increase of the dose 
being prevented by the supervention of giddiness and tremors. 
At the end of seven months, she was discharged ; the eruption 
being scarcely perceptible, and the dyspeptic symptoms entirely 
removed. In a chronic pustular disease, not curable by anti- 
phlogistics, the same gentleman observed better effects than from 
any remedy previously prescribed.J Dr. Copland, it is affirmed, 
found a saturated solution in water answer well as a lotion in 
porrigo favosa.^ The author has often used in porrigo both 
creasote water and creasote ointment (see the formulas at the 
end of the article) ; they have always appeared to him sufficiently 
strong, and when the quantity of creasote was increased, so much 
inflammatory irritation was induced, that they had to be dis- 
continued for a time. 

9. In cases of chronic inflammation of the free edge of the 
eyelids, cures were effected by Coster, and Mr. G. T. Black ;|| by 
the former from the use, twice a day, of a dilute solution of 
creasote (Creasot. gtt. xij. ; Aq. destillat. f.Sij.) applied by means 
of a camel's hair pencil. The cure was effected in ten days. 
The formula for the lotion used by Mr. Black is given after- 
wards. An ointment of creasote has also been found of essential 
service in various forms of strumous ophthalmia by Dr. C. C. 
Hildreth, of Zanesville, Ohio.T In different kinds anophthalmia, 

* Medicin. Zeitung, u. s. w. No. 30, 1834. 

f Lancet, July 4, 1831, p. 459. 

I Medico-Chirurg. Transact, xix. 237. Lond. 1835. 

§ Gully's Kdition of Magendie's Formulary, p. 204. Lond. 1835. See, 
also, Sir F. Smith, in Dublin Med. Jour, for May, 1837, and J. L. Da Luz, 
Op. cit. 

|| London Lancet, Aug. 7, 1841. 

•j]" American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Oct. 1842, p. 364. 
19 



2 IS CREASOTUM. 

M. Sanson used creasote, but never observed the disease to be 
modified by the treatment.* 

10. In a case of prolapsus vaginal, Schlesier tried the external 
use of a solution of creasote. After astringent injections, and the 
application of the decoctum Kramerias by means of a sponge, had 
been used in vain, he injected diluted creasote for seven weeks, 
omitting it only at the time of menstruation. It excited a burning 
sensation of a few minutes' duration. At the expiration of the 
time mentioned, the prolapsus had strikingly diminished, and the 
great sensibility of the prolapsed parts had disappeared. Owing, 
however, to the supervention of irritation in the urinary bladder, 
it had to be discontinued, when there was every prospect of ulti- 
mate success. 

11. Dr. Buttmann,t of Vietz, circle of Landsberg, has given the 
case of an old lady, upwards of seventy years of age, who had 
laboured for several years under oedema of both legs to such an 
extent as to interfere materially with progression. She expe- 
rienced lancinating pains in both feet, and irregular paroxysms of 
fever. Many external and internal remedies had been used in 
vain, when Dr. Buttmann, by way of experiment, applied cata- 
plasms of creasote, soon after which the swelling, very much to 
his astonishment, gradually disappeared, and with it the febrile 
attacks. 

12. In toothach from carious teeth, creasote has often been 
used, being applied to the hollow of the tooth by means of a 
pencil, or of cotton imbued with it. The testimony in its favour 
has been very great, — Coster, Reich, Hahn, Kneisel, Hey- 
felder, Fichtbauer, Hauff, Otto, Guitti, Kohler, Meisinger,J and 
numerous others. Some have advised a collutory of creasote, 
but this is more disagreeable, whilst it is less efficacious than 
creasote applied immediately to the carious tooth. It excites 
instantaneously acute pain and a considerable secretion of saliva. 
The pain is often relieved by it, but it generally recurs ; and per- 
haps the advantage derived from this agent is not greater than 
from the stronger essential oils. As a palliative, it is very useful. 
In rheumatic toothach, the insertion of a little cotton, imbued 
with creasote, in the ear of the same side, has been found ser- 
viceable^ 

Although, however, it alleviates the pain of toothach, it has 
been considered to hasten the destruction of the tooth. || 

* Compte rendu des Seances de la Societe de Medecine, Seance du 7 Mars, 
1834. 

| Beitragen zum Sanitats-Berichte des Frankfurter Regierungs-Bezirks : 
and Medicinische Zeitung, Dec. 7, 1836, S. 252. 

X Medicin. Jarbuch. des k. k. tisterreich. Staates, B. xv. S. 553. Wien, 
1834. 

§ Riecke, Op. cit. S. 167. 

|| Cormack, Lond. and Edinb. Monthly Journ. of Med. Oct. 1842. 



CREASOTTJM. 219 

13. In deafness, apparently owing to a deficient secretion 
from the ceruminous follicles, advantage has been found from 
the use of creasote, after the ear had been syringed. Perhaps as 
good a form as any is that recommended by Mr. Curtis,* which 
consists of one dram of creasote to four drams of lard. A little 
of this oil is inserted into the meatus night and morning, with a 
camel's hair pencil. He considers the preparation contra-indi- 
cated in cases of otorrhoea, where there is any pain or inflam- 
mation. Dr. Partridge,! who has seen many excellent effects 
from creasote in such cases, prefers to commence with half a 
dram of creasote to four drams of oil of almonds, applied by 
means of a camel's hair brush. After a few days, he usually 
increases the quantity of creasote as occasion may require, often 
using it as strong as one part of creasote to three of the oil. 

So far we have spoken mainly of the external use of creasote. 
Reference has been made to its internal administration in cases 
of haemoptysis, hsematemesis and fluor albus only. In the fol- 
lowing diseases, it has been chiefly given internally : — 

14. Phthisis. — Reichenbach excited considerable expectations 
from the use of creasote in phthisis, — pulmonary, laryngeal, 
and bronchial; and as in so intractable a disease every sugges- 
tion is immediately and eagerly embraced, numerous trials were 
instituted with it, the results of which were by no means ac- 
cordant. Reich} affirmed, that he gave it both in laryngeal and 
tubercular phthisis with distinguished success. In a case, in 
which the disease appeared to be considerably advanced, the 
offensive expectoration was changed into one of a tasteless, mu- 
cous character, although the fever and the night sweats expe- 
rienced no modification. Subsequently, haemoptysis supervened , 
with violent fever ; on which account the dose of creasote was 
diminished. Under the use of the remedy the condition of the 
patient appeared to improve, — except the cough, which was 
not mitigated ; an anodyne was consequently substituted for 
the creasote; under which, his patient — a female — 'improved 
so much, that Reich was led to believe she might be saved, al- 
though the cough still remained severe and frequent. In another 
case, creasote allayed the hectic fever, and transformed the puru- 
lent expectoration into one of a mucous character ; yet, although 
the general condition of the patient seemed to be improved, the 
cough and uneasiness of the chest continued almost unchanged. 
Grandjean, also, had a case of phthisis in the third stage, the 
expectoration of which was soon diminished ; the pain in the 

* London Lancet, vol. i. p. 328, 1838-9 ; and Mr. Wright, ibid. p. 580. 

f Medical Examiner, May 30, 1840, p. 348. 

\ Hufeland's Journal, Jan. 1834 ; and Revue Mcdicale, Mai, 1834. 



220 CREASOTUM. 

side removed ; the appetite, sleep, and strength restored, under 
the administration of creasote ; but the result of the case is not 
known. Levrat asserts, that he found it highly useful in chro- 
nic bronchitis, and in some kinds of phthisis. Hechenberger 
saw good effects from the inhalation of creasote in the form 
of vapour in a case of ulcerated lungs ; five, ten, or fifteen 
drops, according to the degree of tolerance of the lungs, being 
dropped into hot water in an appropriate vessel, and the vapour 
received through the tube of an inverted funnel. Hechenberger 
was of opinion, that this mode of exhibiting creasote prevented 
the disagreeable effects apt to be induced by its internal use ; and 
farther experiments have confirmed his view. In the chronic 
mucous affections of the lungs of old people, it appears to have 
been especially useful. On the other hand, Elliotson* derived 
no favourable results from his trials with creasote in phthisis ; 
even inhalation of the vapour was generally unattended with 
any advantage ; yet, he is of opinion, that it may be useful 
where there are only one or two ulcers in the lungs, and there 
is no tendency to their farther production, as well as where there 
is much secretion from the bronchial mucous membrane. Either 
no advantage, or an injurious influence was derived from its use 
in phthisis, by Rehfeld, Haupt, Treumann, Gunther, Schmalz, 
Meisinger, Otto, Kohler,t and others. 

The published experiments by Wolff, in the Charite at Berlin, 
cannot be esteemed more favourable. It was tried in eleven 
cases of tubercular phthisis, of which one was in the first, eight 
were in the second, and two in the third stage. In two cases, 
there was scarcely any advantage after the remedy had been 
given for fourteen days. In one case, it had to be discontinued 
on the eleventh day, owing to the supervention of obstinate 
vomiting. The case ultimately terminated unfavourably. In 
six cases, the symptoms appeared to be aggravated, and the 
patients died soon afterwards. In two cases, in which the dis- 
ease was in its second stage, death supervened unexpectedly 
early, on the fourth, and the seventh day of the treatment, — in 
one case by suffocation ; in the other, by sudden hydrothorax. 
The pulse, according to Wolff, was generally quickened under its 
use ; the hectic augmented ; the urinary secretion diminished ; 
the expectoration neither changed in quantity nor quality ; the 
cough not mitigated ; nor the dyspnoea diminished : on the other 
hand, in four cases, they were manifestly increased : once, epis- 
taxis occurred, and twice, haemoptysis. 

From the results of all his trials, Wolff is disposed to think, 
that creasote should be banished from our list of agents em- 



* Medico-Chirurg. Transact, xix. 221 ; Lond. 1835. 
f Hecker's neuen wissenschaft. Annal. B. i. H. 3. 



CREASOTUM. 221 

ployed in phthisis ; both as respects the radical and the palliative 
treatment ;* but although they may not sanction us in placing 
much value on creasote in the treatment of phthisis, it may be 
improper to ostracise it altogether,t as, according to the testimony 
of others, it would seem to have rendered service. Rampold and 
Spath assert, that they have derived advantage from it in con- 
firmed phthisis where no inflammatory complication was present ; 
the expectoration and colliquative sweats being diminished under 
its use. 

M. Petrequin,J from his trials with it, considered its effects to 
be more beneficial — as might be presumed — in incipient than 
in confirmed phthisis ; but in no case did he observe anything 
approaching the radical cures described by some. He indeed 
gives the preference to tar water (see Aqua Picea, p. 59). 

15. In bronchorrhcea, or that state of the bronchial mucous 
membrane which consists in a profuse secretion without inflam- 
mation, the inhalation of creasote has been found of essential 
service. § 

16. Rheumatism and Gout. — The success, obtained by Reich|| 
from tincture of soot in gouty and rheumatic affections, and the 
probability that the efficacy might depend chiefly on the creasote 
it contained, induced him to prescribe the latter remedy internally 
in those diseases. He made the first trial upon himself. After 
exposure to cold, he was attacked with lancinating pain in the 
whole of the right leg, for the removal of which the ordinary 
remedies were employed in vain : it yielded to the use of crea- 
sote given for nine days. He relates another case of rheumatism 
and one of atonic gout, in which creasote was equally successful. 
Marcus, of Hadersleben, recommends it in cases of rheumatism, 
unaccompanied by excitement of the vascular system, or ten- 
dency to congestion and febrile reaction. It is proper, however, 
to observe, that he combined other agents with it, so that 
his experiments are by no means decisive as to its efficacy. 
Of the three patients, to whose cases he refers, one only was 
cured : the other experienced improvement. Karsten found 
none of the advantages, described by Reich, in rheumatic and 
gouty cases, from its use. In a case of rheumatic headach, 
Tschopke found surprising benefit from frictions of creasote, and 
plugging the ear with cotton dipped into it. The creasote im- 
mediately excited acute pain, and some rubefaction of the skin ; 
and as the burning ceased, the pain ceased along with it. 

* See, also, Kohler, in Rust's Magazin, B. xlvi. and Amer. Journ. of the 
Med. Sciences, Feb. 1837, p. 497. 
f Riecke, Op. cit. S. 170. 
X Gazette Medicale de Paris, Nov. 1836. 
§ Elliotson, in Med. Chirurg. Transact, xix. 221. Lond. 1835. 
|| Hufeland's Journal, Jan. 1834, and Revue M6d., Mai, 1834. 
19* 



222 CEEASOTUM. 

In Most's experience, lotions of creasote water greatly alle- 
viated the pain of the joints in rheumatism and atonic gout. 

17. In vomiting, not arising from inflammation or other 
organic disease of the stomach, Elliotson* found creasote very 
efficacious. In the vomiting of pregnancy it has beenfound highly 
efficacious. If the sickness comes on regularly after rising in 
the morning, Dr. Cormackf prescribes two or three drops to be 
taken five or ten minutes before getting out of bed. This he 
has generally found effectual ; but if it should not be, the patient 
is directed to repeat the dose in two hours. In more troublesome 
cases, when the sickness occurs at intervals during the day, one 
or two drops are given every two, three, or four hours. 

He has also found it serviceable in the sickness and vomiting 
following a drinking debauch. Even in Asiatic cholera and in 
sea-sickness, it appeared to allay the vomiting. In various af- 
fections of the stomach, as in cardialgia and gastrodynia, it may 
be found useful. J In cases of vomiting from nervous excitability 
it has been affirmed to excel all known medicines.^ After Dr. 
Elliotson had recommended it, Dr. Shortt tried it in about a dozen 
cases, and found it equally successful, as did also Prof. A. T. 
Thomson, of London, Dr. Bodington of Erdington in Warwick- 
shire, Dr. Christison,|| and many others. Dr. John Walker of 
Glasgow, in a case published by him,H does not appear to have 
been equally fortunate ; and with Dr. Paris it entirely failed.** 
The author's own success has been by no means as great as that 
of Dr. Elliotson. In many cases, indeed, it has developed irri- 
tability of the stomach, where it did not previously exist.tt 

Dr. Elliotson admits, that in large doses it seems to excite 
vomiting, and that when given in such quantities with a view to 
check it, no good, but evil, results from a large dose. As a pre- 
ventive of sea-sickness it has been extolled by Dr. Elliotson, 
and by Mr. A. B. Maddock.JJ 

It has been administered, also, as an excitant to relieve gas- 
trodynia and flatulence, and where hydrocyanic acid and crea- 

* Medieo-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. xix., and Lancet, Aug 20, 1836. 

f Lond. and Edinb. Monthly Journal of Med. Science, Oct. 1842. 

% Riecke, Op. cit. S. 172. 

§ Cormack, on Creasote, p. 133. 

I Dispensatory, p. 377. Edinb. 1842. 

T Lancet, Dec. 19, 1835, p. 447. See, also, Mr. Taylor, Ibid. Aug. 15, 1835, 
and Dr. Macleod, in Lond. Med. Gazette, xvi. 598, and xvii. 653. 

** Pharmacologia, 8th edit, append. Lond. 1838. See, also, Pereira, Elem. 
of Mat. Med. and Therap. 2d edit. p. 420, Lond. 1842 ; or Amer. Edit, by Dr. 
Carson, Philad. 1843. 

tf Cormack, Lond. and Edinb. Monthly Journal of Med. Science, Oct. 
1842. 

XX Amer. Journ. of the Med. Sciences, Feb. 1838, p. 496. 



CREASOTUM. 223 

sote have been separately tried unsuccessfully, Dr. Elliotson re- 
commends, that they should be combined. 

18. Several portions of taenia having been observed to be dis- 
charged after the administration of creasote, Kraus was induced 
to prescribe it as a powerful anthelmintic. This he did in nume- 
rous cases, and with the best success ; from five to eight drops 
being given to adults with castor oil ; or where the bowels were 
not freely opened with half a drop or a drop of croton oil. 

19. In diabetes mellitus, creasote was first given by Bemdt,* 
and with striking success. One or two cases of the same kind 
are related by Gadolin ; but Rehfeld used it without advantage. 
Dr. Elliotson agrees with Bemdt in the opinion, that it is some- 
times of use in diabetes, and may even be greatly instrumental 
in accomplishing a cure.f 

20. Dr. ElliotsonJ tried creasote in nervous diseases. In some 
cases of epilepsy, the paroxysms appeared to be rendered less 
frequent and more mild ; but in the generality of cases, they re- 
turned with fresh violence. In some cases, the remedy had no 
influence on the disease ; in others it appeared to aggravate it. 
In neuralgia, great advantage was at times derived from it, 
although, here, again, it was frequently of no service. § Dr. El- 
liotson also observed good effects from it in hysteria, where there 
was no inflammatory complication, in spasmodic erethism of the 
nervous system, and in palpitation ; and Dr. Herndon,|| of Vir- 
ginia, used it with much benefit as an inhalation in hysteric 
croup (thirty drops to the quart of hot water). 

In asthma, dependeut upon morbid excitability of the bron- 
chial mucous membrane, Dr. ElliotsonlF found its inhalation to 
be often useful. 

21. In two cases of chronic glanders, the same gentleman** 
accomplished a cure in the course of a few weeks, by the sedu- 
lous use of an injection of a dilute solution of creasote (Creasot. 
gtt. 1 ; Jiquae, 3j.) thrown up the affected nostril; combining the 
treatment, in one of the cases, with the internal use of the re- 
medy ; and a similar case of success is given in a more recent 
number of a British medical periodical.tt 

* Kleinert's Repertorium, Jan. 1835, and Lancet, July 18, 1835. 

t Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, xix. 132-135. Lond. 1835. 

$ Op. cit. 

) Cormack, loc. cit. 

[j Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intelligencer, Mar. 15, 1838, p. 425. 

T Op. cit. 

** Lancet, for June 20, 1833. 

ft Ibid. Jan. 20, 1831), p. 145. 



224 CREASOTUM. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The dose for internal use is one or two drops, given several 
times a day, in gum water.* In cases of tape-worm, the dose 
should be larger. Some give it in emulsion, but this form is 
objectionable on account of its disagreeable taste. It is best 
administered in pill. Externally, it is at times applied pure ; at 
others diluted, — commonly with water, with or without the 
addition of alcohol, or in the form of ointment. Carminatif 
affirms that oil and mucilage, when combined with it, render it 
milder, but that vinegar increases its action. Dr. Cormack,i 
however, doubts the assertion in regard to vinegar. In three 
comparative experiments, which he made with a view of testing 
the justice of Carminati's conclusion, there was no apparent 
difference in the activity of creasote, when given with acetic 
acid or alone. He was led to believe, however, that the addition 
of albumen caused it to act more powerfully, which, if true, 
would be singular. 

The inhalation of creasote vapour may be accomplished by 
diffusing a few drops of creasote through water or a mucilagi- 
nous liquid, in an ordinary inhaling vessel, or in the mode 
described under the head of Chlorine.§ 

Pilulae ereasoti. 
Pills of creasote. 

R. Creasoti, tt^x. 

Glycyrrhiz pulv. Ji. 

Mucilag. acac. q. s. ut fiat massa. 
in pilulas xx. dividenda. 

Dose. — Two pills three times a day. In neuralgia, atonic 
rheufnatism, and chronic bronchitis. The number of pills may 
be gradually increased to eight or ten at a time. 

Joy.\\ 

* It may be well to remark, that the fluidram contains one hundred and 
fifty drops of creasote. 

f Op. cit. 

X Op. citat. p. 88. 

§ Seepage 150. 

|| Tweedle's Library of Medicine, v. 282. Lond. 1840; or 2d Amer. edit, 
iii. Philad. 1842. 



CREASOTUM. 225 

R. Creasot. Jj- 

Ext. glycyrrhiz. 

Galban. aa. 3ss. 

Althaea? pulv. 3ij- 
Fiat raassa in pilulas cxx. dividenda. 

Dose. — Six pills, four times a day. In consumption. 

Reich. 

R. Creasoti, 

Ext. glycyrrhiz. aa. §i. 

Althseae pulv. 3ij. 
Fiat mass, in pil. cxx. dividend. 

Dose. — Five pills morning and evening, in atonic gout. 

Reich. 

Haustus creasoti. 

Creasote draught. 

R. Creasut. tt\,i. 

Aquae camphors, 

Infus. gentian, compos, aa. f.Jvj. 
M. flat haustus. 

To check vomiting. 

Mistura creasoti. 

Mixture of creasote. 

R. Creasot. gtt. v. 

Mucilag. acaciae, f.^iij. 
Syrup, althaeae, f.^j. M. 

Dose. — A spoonful every three hours in haemoptysis. 

Santini. 

Tinctura creasoti pro gingivis. 

Tincture of creasote for the gums. 

R. Creasot. 3j- 

Alcohol.' f.^ij. M. 

As much of this to be added to cold water as is necessary to 
give it a piquant taste, with which the teeth may be washed and 



226 CREASOTUM. 

the mouth rinsed. Used in cases of feet or of the mouth from 
carious teeth, and to limit the caries. 

Buchner. 

R. Alcohol. (36° B.) f.3iss. 

Creasot. f.3J. 

Tinct. cocci, t.^v'j. 

01. menthee, gtt. xxxvj. 

Used for the toothach : and, diluted, as a wash for the gums. 



R. Creasot. 

Alcohol, aa. Jss. M. 

To be applied to carious teeth. Radius. 

R. Creasot. p. i. 

Alcohol, p. viij. M. 

This is the ordinary strength of the tincture. Used where 
fractions of a drop of pure creasote are prescribed. 

Lotio creasoti. 

Lotion of creasote. 

R. Creasot. gss. 

Aquse destillat. f.§v. M. 



Used as a lotion in impetigo sparsa and itch. 



Wolff. 



The author has occasionally found a lotion composed of f.Jss. 
of creasote to Oj. of water too irritating. 

R. Creasot. gtt. xij. 

Aq. destillat. f.gij. M. 

To be applied by means of a hair pencil twice a day to in- 
flamed eyelids. Coster. 

R. Creasot. TTLiij. 

Tinct. lavand. compos. tt\,xx. 
Aquse destillat. f. ^ss. M. 

G. T. Black. 

* Journal de Chimie Med. Avril, 1841. 



CREASOTUM. 227 

R. Creasot. gtt. iv. 

Aq. destillat. f.^ij. M. 

In irritation of the gums. Frimanger. 

R. Creasot. f.Jss. 
Acaciee, §iss. 
Aquae camphor, f.^xss. M. 

Used every two hours, in cases of aphthous ulceration of the 
mouth. 

Magendie. 
R. Creasot. gtt. x. 
Aceti, f.Jij. 
Aqusa, f.^ij. M. 

Used in cases of phagedenic ulceration, and to chancres ; ap- 
plied by means of a camel's hair pencil. 

Shortt* 



Unguentum creasoti, 

Ointment of creasote. 

R. Cerati, 

01. amygdal. aa. 3*j. 
Creasot. gtt. xxx. M. 

A dressing in scrophulous caries. Fremanger. 

The Unguentum Creasoti of the London and United States 
Pharmacopoeias is composed of half a fluidram of creasote to an 
ounce of lard. 

linimentum creasoti, 

Liniment of creasote. 

R. Creasot. gtt. v. — xx. 
01. oliv. 588. M. 

To be rubbed two or three times a day on the diseased parts, 
in chronic herpes. Corneliani. 

* Cormack, Op. cit. p. 112. 



228 



LVIII. CUBE'BA. 

Synonymes. Cubebse, Piper Cubeba, P. Cubebarum, P. Caudatum, Cubebs. 
French. Poivre a queue, Cubebe. 
German. Kubebenpfeffer, Schwanzpfeffer. 

Cubebs are the fruit of Piper cubeba, which grows in India, 
Java, Guinea, &c. Sexual System, Diandria Trygynia ; Natu- 
ral Order, Piperaceae. The corns of this plant have been long 
known in the shops; and in the old Wirtemberg Pharmacopoeia 
they figure as calefacient, inciting, discutient, antinervous, and 
carminative agents, which seem to have a specific action in 
vertigo ; hence they obtained the name " Schwindelkorner" or 
" grains for vertigo." They had, however, fallen into oblivion, 
until they were re-introduced in modern times into practice, 
especially by the English physicians and surgeons. 

The shell of the dried berry has a weak taste, but smells 
agreeably ; the kernel has a bitter aromatic flavour, which is 
biting at first, but afterwards cooling. The corns were analysed 
by Tromsdorff and by Vauquelin ;* but the most recent analysis 
is by Monheim.t He found, in 100 parts, of lignin 65, of extrac- 
tive matter 6, of Cubebin (Piperin) 4.5, of a matter like wax 3, 
of green volatile oil 2.5; of yellow volatile oil 1.0, of balsamic 
resin — which, according to Vauquelin, is very analogous to 
balsam of copaiba — 1.5, of chloride of sodium 1.0, and 15.5 
parts lost. Cubebin appeared to Monheim to be identical with 
piperin, but to be united with an acrid soft resin. 

The volatile oil may be obtained separately by distillation with 
water. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

In addition to the general excitant properties of the peppers, 
the action of cubebs is exhibited on the urinary and genital or- 
gans. Under their use, the secretion of urine is augmented ; it 
becomes of a darker colour, and assumes an aromatic odour. 
Cubebs have been advised, in modern times — first, in cases of 
gonorrhoea, in which they have been esteemed a specific by 
many. Yet the considerations that apply to copaiba are equally 
applicable to cubebs. Although the revulsive effect induced by 

* Memoir, du Museum, vi. 225. 
t Journal de Pharmacie, xx. 403. 



CUBEEA. 220 

both on the kidneys may mitigate the inflammatory condition of 
the lining membrane of the urethra, which constitutes gonor- 
rhoea ; yet, in violent inflammatory cases, and in the early stages 
of ordinary cases, they may be injurious, and there are many 
cases on record in which bad consequences appear to haAfe re- 
sulted from their improper administration. Still, there are many 
physicians who administer both them and the copaiba in every 
stage of the disease. Of 50 patients, treated by Mr. Broughton* 
by cubebs, 10 were cured in from 2 to 7 days ; 17 in from S to 
14 ; IS in from 15 to 21 ; 1 on the 55th day ; and in 4 only Was 
no success obtained. 

In the chronic stage of gonorrhoea, M. Ricordt prescribes cubebs 
in combination with sesquioxide of iron ; and in addition the pa- 
tient is directed to inject, four times a day, a solution composed 
of Aq. destillat. f.|viij., Argent, nilrat. gr. ij. 

It has been affirmed, that different evils have ensued from the 
use of cubebs ; which ought to suggest care in their administra- 
tion : for example, — ardor urinae ; fever ; inflammation of the 
urethra, bladder, and testicles ; retention of urine ; cutaneous erup- 
tions, &c.± 

In the blennorrhcea of females, cubebs are equally extolled by 
many practitioners, as well as in leucorrhoea.§ 

Spitta found them very efficacious in old and obstinate cases 
of coryza, when given in the form of lozenges : they are said, 
likewise, to have been administered with advantage in defective 
audition, caused by a catarrhal affection of the Eustachian tube. 
Rosen found the chewing of cubebs very serviceable in cases 
of aphonia. They have also been prescribed successfully in 
cases of chronic rheumatism. Pul|| gave them with striking 
advantage in intermittent fever ; and in India, they are regarded 
to be aphrodisiac.1T 

According to Dr. Paris, it is important to keep the bowels open 
during their use, for when hardened fasces are allowed to accu- 
mulate, the spice insinuates itself into the mass, and occasions 
excoriations in the rectum.** 

* Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, xii. 1. Lond. 1822. 

f La Lancette Francaise, No. 33. Paris, 1838. 

\ Lond. Med. and Physical Journal, Mar. 1832, and Merat and De Lens, 
Diet. Univers. de Maticre Medicale, &c. Art. Piper Cubeba. 

} Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journal, xviii. 319. Blundell, Diseases of Wo- 
men, p. 158, Lond.; or Dunglison's American Medical Library Edition, Phi* 
lad. 1840; also, Lisfranc by Pauly, translated by Lodge, p. 243. Boston, 
1839 ; and Ricord, Practical Treatise on Venereal Diseases, by Drummond, 
Amer. Edit. Philad. 1843. 

|| Recueil de Med. Chirurg. et Pharm. Militaire, xvi. 

If Merat and De Lens, Art. cit. 

** Brande, Dictionary of Materia Medica, p. 205. Lond. 1839. 
20 



230 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Cubebs are commonly given in the form of powder, and in 
doses of from 1 to 2 and even 4 drams, repeated once or oftener 
in the day. Lozenges, boluses, and electuaries, are likewise 
prepared of them ; and the London, Dublin, and United States 
Pharmacopoeias have a Tinctura Cubeb;e (Cubeb.$iv.,J2lcohol. 
dilut. Oij, Dose, f.Ji. — f-5ij-)- In consequence of the disorder, at 
times induced by them in the digestive function, Velpeau pro- 
posed, that they should be given in the form of glyster, to the 
amount of one or two drams of the powder, suspended in five 
or six ounces of an oily vehicle ; and this method has its advan- 
tages.* To attain the same object, M. Dublanc, Junr., prepared 
an oleo-resinous extract, one-sixteenth part of the weight of which 
possessed equal virtues with one part of cubebs ; five grains, 
three times a day, acting like the ordinary quantity of powdered 
cubebs.t 

The volatile oil is sometimes given in the dose of 10 or 12 
drops, suspended in water by the aid of sugar, or associated with 
oil of copaiba. Gelatinous capsules of cubebs, containing the 
oil, are sometimes taken. 

Recently, M. PiorryJ has strongly recommended an Infusion 
of Cubebs (Cubed, gi., Aquse Oij.) to be used six or eight times a 
day as an injection in urethritis and vaginitis. 



Pnlvis cubeuas compo situs. 
Compound powder of cubebs. 

R. Cubebs pulv. 31. 
Ergotae pulv. Jss. 
Pulv. aromat. ^ij. 
Sacchari, gj- 
Divide in chartulas viij. • 

Dose. — One, three, or four times a day in gonorrhoea, leucor- 
rhoza, gleet, prostatic and involuntary seminal discharges. 

Ryan.§ 

* Archives Generates de Medecine, xiii. 47. 

f Journ. de Chimie Medicate, iii. 491, and Journ. de Pharraacie, xiv. 40. 

X Gazette des Hopitaux, Mai, 1842. 

§ Universal Pharmacopoeia, or a Practical Formulary of Hospitals, both 
British and Foreign, by Michael Ryan, M. D., &c, &c. 3d edit. p. 160. Lond. 
1839. 



231 






R. Cubeb. pulv. §ij. 

Aluminis pulv. §ss. M. et divide in chart, ix. 

One to be taken three times a day. Ricord. 



Electuarium cubebae. 

Electuary ofcubebs. 

R. Cubeb. pulv. §ss. ' 
Mellis despura. q. s. 
Fiat electuarium. 

Dose. — A tea-spoonful, three or four times a day, in catarrhus 
vesicae, c. urethrse, &c. Radius. 

R. Copaib. 3ivss. 
Subige cum 

Vitello ovi unius, et 
Adde 

Cubeb. pulv. 3ivss. 

Confect. rosae, ^ss. 
M. fiat electuarium. 

Dose. — A tea-spoonful, three or four times a day. Vogt. 

R. Copaib. 

Cubeb. pulv. aa. §ij. . 

Aluminis, gj. 

Extract, opii, gr. v. M. 

Dose. — A dram, night and morning, in the pulp of a prune. 
The quantity may be rapidly increased to two drams morning 
and evening. 

R. Copaib. part. i. 

Cubeb. pulv. part. xij. 
Tinct. vanillae, q. s. M. 

Dose. — 5J. three times a day. CazenaveA 

* Mathieu, Journal desConnais. M£d. Chirur. Juin, 1840. 

f Bouchardat, Annuaire de Th6rapeutique pour 1842, p. 44. Paris, 1842. 



232 



Trochisci cubebsc 

Lozenges of cubebs. 



Be. Cubeb. pulv. 3ij. 
Tolut. gr. vj. 
Admisce 

Syr. myroxyl. 
Ext. glycyrr. aa. ^j. 
Acacias q. s. ut fiat massa in trochiscos pond. gr. x. dividenda. 

Used in coryza. Spitta. 

Soli cubebae. 

Boluses of cubebs. 

R. Copaib. 

Acac. pulv. aa. 3ij. 

Aquas flor. aurant. ^ij. 
Terendo bene mixtis adde 

Cubeb. pulv. Jij. 
Misce, et fiant boli No. vj. 

Dose. — One, three times a day. Henschel. 

M. Labelonye* has recently proposed the following method 
for separating all the principles of cubebs from the ligneous 
matter. 

Cubebs, reduced to coarse powder, are placed in an appa- 
ratus for displacement and exhausted by ether, which dissolves 
the wax, volatile oils and balsamic resin. The residue is sub- 
mitted to the action of dilute alcohol at 20° (.935), which dis- 
solves the extractive principle, and chloride of sodium. The 
alcohol and ether are separated by distillation in part, and sepa- 
rately. Evaporation of the hydro-alcoholic solution is then 
carried on in a water bath until it possesses the consistence of a 
soft extract, to which the ethereal product is added ; the evapo- 
ration being continued for a short time, the ether is completely 
volatilised, and a strongly aromatic extract is obtained, as con- 
sistent as honey. This it is improper to subject any longer to 
the action of heat, on account of the contained volatile oils ; the 
presence of which in all cases interferes with complete desi- 
cation. 

* Bulletin General de Therapeutique, and Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy, 2d 
series, vol. 2, p. 316. Philad. 1837. 



CTJBEBA. 233 

One part of this extract is conceived to be equal to five of the 
cubebs. 

This extract can be readily mixed with water by means of 
mucilage, and can be administered in potions, injections, &c. 

The best form of exhibition, according to M. Labelonye, is in 
lozenges, or in an emulsive syrup. 

Trochisci extracti hydro-alcoholici rctherei cubebs. 

Lozenges of the ethereal hydro-alcoholic extract of cubebs. 

R. Ext. hydro-alcohol, aether, cubeb. fviij. 
Alcohol. Oij. 
Solve etadde 

Sacchar. in pulv. ten. J^j. 
01. menthae pip. gtt.xviij. 

Pour the mixture into flat vessels upon a stove, and allow the 
alcohol to evaporate at a moderate heat. When the mass is 
completely desiccated, reduce it to a fine powder, and add a suf- 
ficient quantity of mucilage of gum tragacanth to form lozenges 
— 18, 12, 9, or 6 grains each. Most persons, M. Labelonye 
says, can swallow with facility those weighing eighteen grains, 
and containing six grains of the extract : ten of these are equi- 
valent to half an ounce of the powder, 

Syrupns extracti hydro-alcoholiei aetherei cubebae. 

Syrup of the ethereal hydro-alcoholic extract of cubebs. 

R. Ext. hydro-alcohol, aether, cubeb. |iij. 
Suspende ope mucilaginis in 

Aq. menthae pip. Jfy. 
Adde 

Sacchar. f^ij. M. 

Four ounces of this syrup contain two drams of extract, equi- 
valent to ten of powdered cubebs. 

Dose. — A tea-spoonful. 

M. Labelonye envelopes the extract also in sugar, as in the 
ordinary sugar-plumb. 

An extract of cubebs has been recommended to be prepared 
as follows: — .The cubebs are exhausted by repeated digestion in 
alcohol, which readily takes- up all the active principles of the 
pepper ; viz., a resin resembling that of copaiba, and a coloured 
resin, with an almost concrete essential volatile oil. The alcohol 
20* 



234 DELPHINIA. 

is distilled from those tinctures at a temperature so moderate as 
not to volatilize the essential oil. When the operation can be 
carried no farther in this manner, the evaporation must be con- 
tinued in an open vessel by the aid of a water bath, at a still 
lower degree of heat ; a little finely pulverized Spanish soap must 
now be added to prevent the separation of the resin, and preserve 
the extract of a uniform consistence. 

The ordinary dose of this in blennorrhea is about fifteen grains 
three times a day.* 

Dr. Puchet employs a liquid aqueous extract of cubebs ; a 
liquid alcoholic extract ; a syrup of the alcoholic extract ; a 
bolus of cubebs ; and one of cubebs, copaiba and turpentine. 
The last he covers with a gelatinous mixture to obviate the un- 
pleasant taste. 



LIX. DELPHINIA. 

Synonymes. Delphinina, Delphininum, Delphininium, Delphium, Delphina, 

Delphia, Delphinine, Delphine. 
German. Delphinin. 

This alkaloid was discovered in 1819, by MM. Feneulle and 
Lassaigne,J and, almost at the same time, by Brandes,§ in the 
seeds of Delphinium Staphisagria, in which it is united with 
acetic acid. As a therapeutical agent, it has been chiefly re- 
commended by Turnbull ; but he did not employ it in its pure 
state. 

METHOD OF PREPARING. 

The plan recommended by Magendie|| is to boil a portion of 
the seeds of delphinium, cleared of their coverings, and reduced 
to a fine paste, in a little distilled water ; to pass the decoction 
through linen cloth, and filter. Pure magnesia is now added, 
and the mixture is boiled for some minutes ; the filtration is re- 
peated ; and the residues washed carefully and digested in alco- 
hol. On evaporating the alcoholic tincture, delphinia is obtained 
in the form of a white powder, having some crystallised points. 

* Mr. W. H. Judd, Medico-Botanical Transactions, vol. i. p. 4. Lond. 
1839. 

f Journ. de Connaiss. Medical. Aout, 1840. 

j Annales de Chimie, torn. xi. xii., and Journal de Pharmacie, vi. 47 and 
366. 

§ Schweigger's Journal der Chimie, xxv. 369. 

U Formulaire, &c. 



DELPHINIA. 235 

This is esteemed the most simple mode ; but if a large quantity- 
be required, the following plan is advised — on account of the 
time and patience necessary to decorticate the seeds. 

Submit the unclean seeds, when well bruised, to the action of 
iveak sulphuric acid. Precipitate the liquor by ammonia, and 
redissolve in alcohol the delphinia, which is still slightly coloured. 
To purify it, draw off the alcohol by distillation, dissolve the 
residuum in muriatic acid, and boil with magnesia. 

The plan recommended by Couerbe, and adopted by Turnbull,* 
is to evaporate a saturated tincture of the seeds to the consist- 
ence of a thin extract, and then to treat it with water acidulated 
with sulphuric acid. This solution, when filtered, is to be pre- 
cipitated by ammonia. The precipitate — after being freed 
from its water — is to be taken up by alcohol, and again re- 
duced to the consistence of an extract, which is likewise to be 
dissolved in acidulated water ; to this solution, filtered, a small 
quantity of nitric acid is added, as long as any precipitate is 
thrown down. The liquid, freed from this precipitate, is again 
to be subjected to precipitation by ammonia, and the powder is 
dried. This is the delphinia of commerce ; but like veratria, it is 
a compound substance, and consists of resinous matter, staphy- 
sagrin and delphinia ; the delphinia is obtained by treating the 
powder with ether, which takes up the delphinia, and leaves the 
staphysagrin. 

When in a state of purity, delphinia is white, pulverulent, and 
devoid of smell ; but like veratria, when applied to the mucous 
membrane of the nose, it occasions sneezing, along with an abun- 
dant secretion of mucus. Its taste is at first bitter, and after- 
wards acrid, and it acts upon animals in the same manner as — 
but more energetically than — the seeds whence it is prepared. 
It is very sparingly soluble in water, but yet in sufficient quantity 
to communicate a bitter taste to the fluid. In alcohol and ether 
it dissolves readily ; and these solutions have the property of 
rendering syrup of violets green, and of restoring the blue colour 
of litmus, when reddened by acids. It combines readily with 
acids, and forms neutral salts, which are possessed of much bitter- 
ness and acridity ; and it may be precipitated from solutions of 
these in the form of a jelly by the addition of an alkali. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

From the experiments of Orfila,t delphinia appears to belong 
to the class of acro-narcotic poisons. In the dose of about 
five grains, it proves fatal to dogs; and the fatal result is more 

* On the Medical Properties of the Natural Order Ranunculaceie, Chapter II. 
Lond. 1835. 
f Nouveau Journal de M£d. x. ; and Toxicologic Gen. i. 739. 



236 DELPHINIA. 

speedily induced when the delphinia is dissolved in weak acetic 
acid ; the animal, in the latter case, dies in the space of from 
forty to fifty minutes. When diffused through water introduced 
into the stomach of a dog, and retained there by a ligature placed 
around the gullet, efforts to vomit supervened, with restlessness, 
giddiness, immobility, slight convulsions, and death in two or 
three hours. In this case, the mucous membrane of the stomach 
was generally found injected. 

From his administration of delphinia and its salts, Turnbull 
concludes, that the pure alkaloid has little effect on the mucous 
membrane of the stomach and bowels. It may be given, he says, 
in some cases, to the extent of three or four grains a day, in doses 
of half a grain each, without exciting vomiting ; in this quantity, 
however, it sometimes operates upon the bowels, but causes very 
little irritation. In most instances, it acts as a diuretic, and occa- 
sions a considerable flow of pale urine. When taken to the ex- 
tent of a few grains, it induces heat and tingling in various parts 
of the body, similar to those produced by rubbing it upon the 
skin ; and its other effects are very nearly the same as those of 
the salts of veratria. 

The preparations of delphinia have been used in the same 
diseases as those of veratria, and they appear to exert a similar 
action : the test laid down by Turnbull, in the case of vera- 
tria, applies equally to delphinia ; — namely, unless a solution 
of delphinia in alcohol, in the proportion of four grains to a 
dram, occasions a distinct sensation of heat and pricking, when 
rubbed for three or four minutes on the forehead, the specimen 
ought not to be used, as no beneficial effect would arise from its 
application. When rubbed upon the skin, it gives rise to a sen- 
sation of burning, not unlike that which manifests itself a short 
time after the application of a blister, but not to an unpleasant 
degree, unless the friction has been carried too far. The effects 
of delphinia differ from those of veratria in being generally more 
powerful and durable. 

The diseases in which delphinia has been chiefly used, like 
veratria, are — tic douloureux, paralysis, and rheumatism. In 
the first of these, when the affection is seated in the tongue, or 
at the point where the infra-orbitar nerve escapes from its fora- 
men, the use of delphinia, according to Turnbull, is to be pre- 
ferred, because it can be applied to the tongue, or rubbed on the 
gums, without occasioning irritation of the mucous membrane. 
He thinks it, also, upon tiie whole, better adapted for the treat- 
ment of paralytic cases than veratria, but principally on account 
of the property it has " of exciting the circulation in the diseased 
part." 



237 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The manner of applying delphinia is the same as that recom- 
mended for veratria. It may be used either in the form of oint- 
ment or in solution in alcohol ; and the proportions to be 
employed, in either case, may vary from ten to thirty or more 
grains to the ounce, according to the severity of the affection, 
for the treatment of which it is prescribed. The duration of the 
friction should be regulated in the same manner, or it should be 
continued until the pungent sensation, produced by the rubbing, 
exhibits itself. 



LX. DIOS'MA. 

Synonymes. Diosma Crenata (folia) ; Barosma Crenata (folia) ; Agothosma 

Crenatum (folia) ; Bocchoe, Bocho, Boocho, Buckha, Buchu Leaves. 
German. Buccublatter ; Duftstrauchblatter. 

Diosma crenata is indigenous at the Cape of Grood Hope. It 
belongs to the Natural Family Rutacese ; Sexual System 
Pentandria Monogynia. 

The smell of the leaves is penetrating and peculiar, but resem- 
bling that of rue and camphor. By some, it has been compared to 
that of oil of juniper ; by others, to rosemary ; by others, to cumin, 
and by the others, again, to that of the urine of the cat. The 
name is, therefore, by no means expressive. It appears to be 
derived from the smell, — ft°s , " divine," and **(*■», " odour." The 
taste of the leaves is aromatic ; somewhat pungent ; and, in the 
opinion of Buchner, resembling that of peppermint ; without any 
particular bitterness, yet disagreeable. According to the analysis 
of Buchner, Brandes, and Cadet, the most important constituents 
appear to be a volatile oil of a greenish-yellow colour, a peculiar 
principle — diosmin, and a semi-resinous substance. Diosmin 
is a very tenacious adhesive matter, similar to Peruvian balsam, 
and can be drawn out in fine threads. It has the same smell as 
the leaves, only somewhat weaker ; the taste is pungent and 
bitter. The semi-reshvms matter has a resinous lustre ; is of a 
dark brown colour, becomes fluid when heated, and burns with 
a flame. Its odour is not remarkable : the taste is somewhat 
pungent and sourish.* 

* See Journal de Chimie Mcdicale, iii. 13, and Journal de Pharmacie, xiii. 
106. 



23S 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

The Hottentots have long used the leaves of several varieties 
of diosma both internally and externally ; but they give the pre- 
ference to Diosma crenata. Through them its virtues became 
known to the European settlers. It was first brought to the no- 
tice of British practitioners by the notorious Richard Reece, who 
is more known for the part he took in the farce of Joanna South- 
cote than for any thing else. In Germany, it was chiefly promul- 
gated by Jobst, who published an extract from Reece's obser- 
vations in the Repertorium of Buchner.* 

Bardili instituted experiments for testing the action of the 
remedy on the healthy organism. It first acts — he says — as 
an excitant on the stomach, whence arises a feeling of increased 
heat in that organ, and the appetite becomes augmented : from 
the stomach, the excitement spreads to the vascular system ; the 
heat of the body is increased ; the pulse becomes more frequent, 
and the transpiration is favoured. It acts, likewise, on the uri- 
nary secretion ; the urine is separated in larger quantity, contains 
flocculi, deposits a purulent (?) sediment, and exhales an aro- 
matic odour. On the digestive function, it seems to produce 
somewhat of a constipating effect. Bardili thinks, that he has 
also witnessed some narcotic operation in his experiments. 

The same results were produced by Diosma on animals. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

The inhabitants of the Cape administer this agent as a sto- 
machic, and the Dutch physicians give it with success in indi- 
gestion. It is said, also, to have afforded essential service in 
chronic cases of rheumatism and gout. Autenrieth extols it in 
rheumatic pains, which have had their foundation in repelled 
itch (?) ; and its utility in chronic rheumatism has been confirmed 
by numerous others. It has been extolled, moreover, in he- 
maturia, calculous pains, and in irritated and suppurative con- 
ditions of the bladder, urethra, and prostate. The author has 
repeatedly administered it, but has observed no other effects than 
those of a moderate excitant and tonic.t Reece says he found 
it efficacious in incontinence of urine, and in catarrhus vesicae ; 
and he gave it — united with tincture of cubebs — in spasmodic 
stricture of the urethra, gonorrhcea, sivelling of the prostate, 
and impotence. 

* Band. xxii. S. 51. 

f See his General Therapeutics and Materia Medica, vol. i. p. 302. Philad. 
1843. 



DIOSMA. 239 

By the inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope, buchu leaves 
are often applied externally, both in the form of liniment and of 
baths, in luxations and rheumatic pains, — as well as of fomen- 
tations and cataplasms • and in wounds, especially the contused. 

It may be remarked, that this — like almost every similar 
remedy — has been given in cholera ; and, as the Riga physicians 
assert, frequently with favourable results. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The close of the powder is ^ij. in the day ; this, at least, is the 
common dose at the Cape. The infusion necessarily contains 
more of the volatile oil than the decoction ; but, on the other 
hand, the latter has more of the diosmin : as respects their action, 
however, there is not much difference. A vinegar, oxymel, 
liniment, extract, and tincture of diosma have been advised. 

The London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and United States Pharma- 
copoeias have an Infusum Diosmje (gss. of the leaves to Oss. of 
water, Pharm. U. S.) ; dose,fJiss : and the Dublin, a Tinctura 
Buchu (§ij. of the leaves to Oj. of proof spirit) ; dose, f.^ij. or f.3iij . 

Infusum diosmrc compositum. 

Compound infusion of buchu. 

R. Diosm. 

Uvse ursi, aa. ^ss. 
Aq. bullient. Oss. 
Digere leni calore in vase clauso per semihoram. Colaturse adde 
Syrup, seneg. f.^ss. 

Dose. — One or two spoonfuls every two hours, in blennor- 
rhea, and in atony and paralysis of the bladder. 

Clarus. 

R. Infus. diosmte, f.^vij. 
Tinct. diosmae, 
Cubebse, aa. f.Jiv. M. 

Dose. — Two tabic spoonfuls three times a day. This for- 
mula is recommended by Dr. Joy* " in chronic diseases of the 
prostate, bladder, and kidneys, gravel, &c," as if the patholo- 
gical condition to bo rectified wore, in all these cases, identical ! 
(See page 145.) 

■* Tweedie's Library of Medicine, v. 311. London, 1840; or 2d American 
edit. vol. iii. Philad. 1842. 



240 ELECTROPUNCTURA. 

LXI. ELECTROPUNCTU'RA. 

Synonymes. Electropuncture, Electropuncturation. 

Electropuncture consists in a union of acupuncture with elec- 
tricity. The idea of the conjunction appears to have originated 
with Berlioz ; but Sarlandiere was, doubtless, the first who put 
it in practice, although J. Cloquet has contested the priority with 
him — a matter, by the way, as in all such cases, of extremely 
small moment. The operation consists in employing acupunctu- 
ration in the usual way, either with a single needle, or with two 
or more ; and making a communication between them and the 
prime conductor of an electrical machine in action ; or they may 
be made to form part of the circuit in the discharge of a Leyden 
jar. In this way, the electrical influence may be graduated from 
the simple aura to a full shock. Sarlandiere appears to have 
employed electropuncture with great success, but he restricts its 
use to rheumatic or neuralgic pains, uncomplicated with organic 
mischief or inflammation : when such complications exist, he 
advises bloodletting and general antiphlogistics to be premised.* 

Guersent thinks it better, in all these cases, to use simple 
acupuncturation, and only to employ electropuncture, when the 
first proves to be inadequate, as in paralysis, and in tremors 
produced by the immoderate use of mercury ; — in all cases, 
indeed, in which the malady depends on a diminution of the 
nervous energy. A case of success from its use, in paralysis of 
the right arm, in which voluntary motion and sensibility were 
destroyed, has been published.t The patient was, in the first 
instance, subjected to the use of blisters and moxas along the 
course of the radial nerve, from which he obtained some advan- 
tage. The remedy, which succeeded best, however, was electro- 
puncture along the nerves from the shoulder to the hand. Ail 
first, the punctures were but little felt ; but afterwards they were 
very painful. The sensibility, mobility, and strength of the 
fingers and hand gradually returned ; and, three months after 
his admission, the patient left the hospital completely cured. 

Magendie affirms, that he has treated many cases of incom- 
plete amaurosis with great success by this agent. He employed, 
it, however, in the form of what has been more properly termed 
galvanopuncture ; by fixing a needle in the frontal nerve, and 

* E. Grafe, Art. Electropunctura, in Encyclopad. Worterb. der Medicinisch. 
Wissensch. x. 550. Berlin, 1834. 

f La Lancette Frangoise, Dec. 20, 1836; and Amer. Med. Intelligencer, Oct. 
16, 1837, p. 265. 



ELECTROPTJNCTTJRA. 241 

another in the superior maxillary, and making these communi- 
cate respectively with the poles of a galvanic pile of twelve pairs 
of plates, each six inches square. Whenever the contact was 
made, the patient experienced a painful commotion in the course 
of the nerves, and at the bottom of the orbit ; the light became 
better appreciated, and the pupil contracted. 

The author has frequently used both electropuncture and galva- 
nopuncture in rheumatic and neuralgic affections ; but he does 
not think the advantages were more marked than those of simple 
acupuncture, whilst the suffering from the operation was certainly 
greater. Magendie, however, regards electropuncture as the 
remedy par excellence in the treatment of obstinate neuralgia.* 

In cases of asphyxia, galvanopuncture has been proposed to 
arouse the dormant energies. The effect of electricity, in the 
different forms in which it is adopted in medicine, on the func- 
tions of sensibility and muscular contraction, could not fail to 
suggest it early to observers as a fit agent for this purpose ; but it 
is rarely at hand, and, therefore, seldom available. J. P. Frank, 
Thillaye,t and others have highly recommended it; — the latter 
gentleman, on the strength of numerous experiments on animals. 
As the object, in these cases, is to arouse trie respiratory muscles 
to action, the electric shock may be passed through the shoulders 
or the chest in any direction. Neither common nor galvanic 
electricity is possessed of much — if any — power to restore the 
action of the involuntary muscles. The author has frequently 
attempted to re-excite the action of the heart, intestines, fibres 
of the uterus, &c, soon after the cessation of respiration and cir- 
culation, by means of the galvanic stimulus, but without the 
slightest success, although the voluntary muscles responded to 
it energetically. Besides, were the action of the heart re-excited 
by it, this could be but momentary. A necessary stimulating 
agency to that viscus is distension by the proper fluid, and unless 
the respiratory movements were restored, and conversion of 
venous to arterial blood effected, so that the latter could reach 
the left heart, the action of that organ could not be maintained. 
Every attempt, therefore, is properly made to restore the action 
of the respiratory muscles, so that hsematosis may be accom- 
plished.! 

M. Leroy d'Etioles§ has suggested galvanopuncture in a man- 

* Medico-Chirurg. Rev. July, 1841, p. 202 ; and Dunglison's Amcr. Med. 
Intel. Sept. 1841, p. 69. 

f Archives Generates de M^decine, xii. 

% Art. Asphyxia, by the author, in the American Cyclopedia of Practical 
Medicine, part x. p. 486, Sept. 1836'; and in his Practice of Medicine, i. 428. 
Philad. 1842. 

§ Magendie's Journal de Physiologie, torn. vii. 1827; torn. viii. and torn, 
ix. ; also, Recherches Expcrimentales surl'Asphyxie, Paris, 1829; and Bour- 
21 



242 ELECTR0PTJNCTURA. 

ner which, at the first aspect, appears most formidable ; but 
which is really less so than it seems to be, in consequence of the 
impunity with which fine needles can be made to penetrate, as 
has been seen,* even the most important organs. He introduced 
an acupuncture needle on each side between the eighth and 
ninth ribs, until it reached the fibres of the diaphragm. He then 
established a galvanic current between the needles by means of 
a pile of twenty-five or thirty pairs of plates, an inch in dia- 
meter. The diaphragm immediately contracted, and an inspira- 
tion was accomplished. He then interrupted the circle, when 
the diaphragm, urged by the weight of the abdominal viscera, 
and aided by gentle pressure made on the abdomen by the hand, 
returned to its former position, and an expiration was effected. 
In this way, the two respiratory acts were made to succeed each 
other, and regular respiration was reinduced. A continuous 
current was likewise employed in some cases : but the respira- 
tory movements were irregular, and nothing like natural respi- 
ration resulted. 

Leroy tried his method on animals asphyxied by submersion, 
and when they had not been under water more than five minutes, 
they were often restored. 

These experiments were witnessed by Magendie.t On different 
occasions, M. Leroy asphyxied animals of the same kind, and 
apparently of the same strength, and while those that were left 
to themselves perished, those that were treated by galvanism 
recovered. 

As anaid,therefore,to pulmonary insufflation,and an important 
one, galvanism, — combined or not with acupuncturation, — might 
be advantageously employed in asphyxia,but,as has been already 
remarked, it can rarely be available. Certainly no time should 
be lost in adopting the other energetic and indispensable mea- 
sures that are demanded4 It has been recommended, that as 
only a very small apparatus is necessary, batteries, consisting of 
a few plates, might be kept wherever there are station-houses 
for the reception of persons in a state of asphyxia.§ The sug- 
gestion is good ; and they might also with propriety form apart 
of the cabinet of apparatus of the private practitioner ; but whilst 
an assistant is preparing the apparatus for action, the practitioner 
should be assiduously engaged in applying other means of resus- 
citation. || 

geois, Observations sur la possibility du retour a la vie dans plusieurs cas 
d'Asyhyxie. Paris, 1829. 

* See Art. Acupuncture, p. 45. 

t Journal de Physiologie, ix. 

% See Art. Asphyxia, Op. cit. p. 486. 

\ Kay, in Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. xxix. and in his work on Asphyxia. 
Lond. 1834. 

IJ See Most, Art. Galvanismus, in Encyklopad. der gesammten medicin. und 
chirurgisch. Praxis, u. s. w, 2te Auflage. Leipz. 1836. 



EMETIA. 243 

M. Zenobi Pechioli* has detailed a case of double hydrocele, 
in which he employed electropuncture, Two needles were in- 
serted, one into the upper, the other into the under, part of the 
tumour. These were connected to opposite poles of a voltaic 
pile, and the electric fluid was passed in a continued current for 
five minutes, when it had to be discontinued in consequence of 
the right testicle becoming painful. Five minutes after the re- 
moval of the needles, both hydroceles disappeared completely. 
In the evening, redness and heat of the scrotum occurred, and 
the right side of the scrotum became cedematous. The operation 
was repeated in ten days, and was followed by a like result. 
Ten days afterwards, it was again resorted to, after which he had 
no return of the disease. M. Pechioli is of opinion, that the 
openings made by the common mode of acupuncturation are too 
small to allow the fluid to escape, and he thinks, that by passing 
a current of electricity through the hydrocele, the contained fluid 
is forced out through the sac into the cellular tissue of the scrotum, 
whence it is removed by absorption. 



LXII. EMETIA. 

Synonymes. Emetina, Emeta, Emetinum, Emetine. 
French. Emetine, La Matiere Vomitive. 
German, Emetin, Brechstoff. 

In the year 1S17, MM. Pelletierand Magendie,t by a series of 
chemical and physiological experiments, discovered, that the 
various kinds of ipecacuanha are indebted for their emetic pro- 
perties to a peculiar substance to which they gave the name 
Emetine. 

This substance possesses the emetic power in a very concen- 
trated state, and has neither the disagreeable smell, nor the nau- 
seous taste of ipecacuanha. They considered, therefore, that 
it might be advantageously substituted for ipecacuanha on all 
occasions. 

There are two varieties of the active principle — the coloured 
and the pure, which, as Magendie remarks,:]: bear the same re- 
lation to each other as moist sugar does to the white and crystal- 

* Bulletin delle Scienze Medic, di Bologna, Sept. 1841 ; and Dublin Journ. 
of Med. Sciences, Nov. 1812, p. 311. 

f Journal de Pharmacie, iii. 145 ; and Magendie's Formulaire pour la pre- 
paration de plusieurs nouveaux medicamens, &c. 

\ Op. cit. . 



244 EMETIA. 

Used. Ipecacuanha, derived from Cephaelis ipecacuanha, con- 
tains the most emetia. 

Emetia has been received into many of the Pharmacopoeias, 
as the Parisian, Batavian, Hanoverian, &c. 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

1. Coloured Emetia. — Powdered ipecacuanha is digested 
with ether at 60° (.720) to dissolve the fatty matter, whence it 
derives its disagreeable odour, and which possesses no emetic 
virtue. When the powder yields nothing more to ether, it is ex- 
hausted by means of alcohol : the alcohol is then evaporated in 
a water-bath, and the residue is dissolved in cold water. It thus 
loses some of the wax, and a little fatty matter, which still ad- 
hered to it ; it is then only necessary to mix it with carbonate 
of magnesia, whereby it loses its gallic acid, — to redissolve it 
in alcohol, and to evaporate to dryness. 

By a similar process, M. Boullay obtained from the roots, 
leaves, flowers, and seeds of Viola odorata, an active, alkaline, 
bitter and acrid principle, similar to emetia from ipecacuanha, 
which he denominates Emetine of the violet, indigenous emetine 
or violine. According to Orfila, it possesses highly poisonous 
qualities.* 

2. Pure emetia. — This is obtained by substituting calcined 
'magnesia for the carbonate used in the process just described, 
in such quantity, that the acid existing in the liquid may be 
neutralised, and that which is associated with the emetia be 
separated from it. 

The precipitate of magnesia and emetia must now be washed 
with a little very cold water, to remove the colouring matter, 
which is not combined with magnesia ; and after being care- 
fully dried it must be treated with alcohol, which dissolves the 
emetia. The emetia, obtained by the evaporation of the alcohol, 
must then be dissolved in a dilute acid, and treated with pure 
animal charcoal. After this purification, the emetia must be 
precipitated by a salifiable base. 

The waters, used to wash the magnesian precipitate, still con- 
tain emetia, which may be separated by a second series of oper- 
ations. 

Coloured emetia appears in the form of reddish-brown, trans- 
parent scales ; is almost inodorous, and of a bitter, but not nau- 
seous taste. It can withstand the heat of boiling water without 
experiencing change ; is very deliquescent, soluble in water, and 
not crystallisable. 

* Journal de Pharmacie, Janvier, 1824. 



EMETIA. 245 

Pure emetia has a white and frequently a somewhat yellowish 
appearance ; is pulverulent, and does not deliquesce, like the 
former, in the air. In cold water, it is but little soluble ; more 
so in warm. In ether and alcohol, it dissolves readily. Its taste 
is feebly bitter. It has an alkaline reaction, is dissolved by all 
the acids — diminishing their acidity, but without wholly neu- 
tralising them. With the acids it forms crystallisable compounds, 
from which it may be precipitated by galls, which are the best 
agents for obviating the effects of emetia, when given in too 
large a dose. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

According to Magendie,* from half a grain to two or three 
grains of coloured emetia given to dogs and cats, excited vomit- 
ing, at times followed by long sleep. In larger doses, — ten grains 
for example, — it occasioned, in dogs, repeated vomiting, after 
which the animal fell asleep, and generally died in twenty-four 
hours. On dissection, violent inflammation was found in the 
lungs, and in the mucous membrane of the stomach and bowels 
throughout their whole extent. The effects were the same when 
the emetia was injected into the jugular vein, or absorbed from 
any part of the body. In a healthy man, two grains of coloured 
emetia, taken fasting, produced repeated vomiting, to which 
succeeded decided disposition to sleep. Even a quarter of a 
grain at times induced nausea and vomiting. It acted also on 
the bowels. 

The effects of pure emetia are analogous, but more powerful ; 
two grains were sufficient to kill a strong dog. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

The same effects are induced on the morbid as on the healthy 
economy. 

Magendie recommends the administration of coloured eme- 
tia — as the pure is much too dear — in every ease where it is 
desirable to excite vomiting, and especially where ipecacuanha is 
indicated. It has not, however, been much used, except by 
Magendie himself. Lerminier, who prescribed it, says that one 
or two grains of coloured emetia are equal in strength to from 
ten to twenty of ipecacuanha ; but that he observed no difference 
in their operation, and Dr. Domeiert appears to have arrived at. 

* Op. citat. 

+ London Med. Gaz. Sept. 11, 1839, p. 929. 
21*= 



246 EMETIA. 

the same results. The obvious advantages it possesses are — 
the convenient and agreeable form under which it may be admin- 
istered, and the circumstance, that several spurious sorts of ipeca- 
cuanha are frequently passed off in commerce, and occasion, 
in consequence, considerable disappointment in the mind of the 
practitioner. The employment of the active principle of course 
precludes these inconveniences.* 

Prollius, of Wolfhagen, has frequently administered pure 
emetia, which he recommends as a substitute for ipecacuanha, 
on the grounds above mentioned ; and he properly adds, that the 
price is not a matter of so much moment as it might seem to be 
by reason of the very small quantity required to produce the 
desired effects. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

To produce vomiting, three grains of coloured emetia may be 
dissolved in any vehicle, and given in divided doses, at short 
intervals. In several cases, Dr. Domeiert found one grain amply 
sufficient. Of pure emetia, Magendie found, in a man eighty- 
five years of age, one-sixteenth of a grain sufficient to induce 
vomiting. He remarks, however, that the man was easily made 
to vomit. Prollius found the medium dose of pure emetia, for 
an adult, to be from two-sixteenths to three-sixteenths of a 
grain ; sometimes it was requisite to give another sixteenth. 
Very rarely was it necessary to give more than four-sixteenths, 
or one-fourth of a grain. As, on account of its sparing solu- 
bility, pure emetia, when given alone, might be restricted in its 
operation, Prollius adds an equal portion of tartaric acid, and a 
little sugar. 

Mistnra emetia Tomitoria. 

Emetic mixture of emetia. 

R. Emet. colorat. gr. iv. 
Infus. flor. aurant. gij. 
Syrup, flor. aurant. gss. M. 

Dose. — A dessert-spoonful every half hour, — to excite vomit- 
ing. Any simple distilled water and syrup may be substituted 
for those of the orange flowers. Magendie. 

* CliniqueMedicale, vol. i. Paris, 1823. 
f Op. citat. 



247 



Pastilli emetiae pectorales. 
Pectoral lozenges of emetia. 

R. Emetiae colorat. gr. xxxij. 
Sacchar. 51 v. 
Mucilag. q. s. ut fiant pastilli, pond. gr. ix. sing. 

These lozenges are commonly coloured red, to distinguish 
them from those of ipecacuanha. A little carmine may be added 
for this purpose. 

Given in cases of catarrh, hooping-cough, chronic diar- 
rhoea, &c. 

Dose. — One lozenge occasionally. Magendie. 

Pastilli emetiae vomitorii. 

Emetic lozenges of emetia. 

R. Emetiae colorat. gr. xxxij. 

Saech. §ij. 
Mucilag. q. s. ut riant pastill. pond. gr. xviij. singul. 

Dose. — One of these lozenges, taken fasting, is generally 
enough to make a child vomit : three or four are required for an 
adult. Magendie. 

Mistura emetiae purificatae vomitoria. 

Emetic mixture of purified emetia. 

R. Emetiae purif. — in pauxil. acid. nitr. solut — gr. j. 
Infus. flor. tiliae, f.giij- 

Syrup. althaeae, f.gj. M. 

Dose. — A dessert-spoonful to be given every quarter of an 
hour, until vomiting is induced. Magendie. 



24S 



LXIII. ER'GOTA. 

Synonymes. Secale Cornutum, Clavis Secalinus, Calcar, Secalis Mater, 

Secale Luxurians, S. clavatum, Ustilago, Clavis Siliginis, Spurred Rye, 

Corned Rye, The Spur, Ergot, Hornseed. 
French. Seigle ergote, Ble cornu, Clou de Seigle, Mere de Seigle, Bled avorte, 

B. farouche, Faux Seigle, Seigle cornu ou corrompu ; S. a eperon, S. ergo- 

tise, S. ivre, S. noir. 
German. Mutterkorn, Gebarpulver, Afterkorn, Schwarzkorn, Aetzroggen. 

The effects, which this substance is capable of exerting on the 
uterus, are so well known as not to need any lengthened de- 
scription. Its employment in parturition having been revived 
in this country, there are but few who are ignorant of its re- 
puted properties. Certain other effects have, however, been 
ascribed to it, in very recent times, which require mention. 

Spurred rye or ergot — the latter being the common name 
from its " spurred" appearance* — is generally considered to be 
the result of a disease in rye, occurring most frequently when a 
hot summer succeeds a rainy spring.t 

Decandolle, however, regards it as a parasitic fungus, and calls 
it Sclerolium clavus ; whilst Leveille esteems it to be a fungus 
giving a coating to the diseased grain — the medical virtues re- 
siding in the coating. This fungus he calls Sphacelia segetum. 
Brande refers it to the Natural Order Fungaceae, and terms it 
Spermoedia clavus, and in the last edition of the London Phar- 
macopoeia, it is referred to the Acinula clavus of Fries ;J but, 
according to Lindley, Fries has no such plant in any of his works, 
and the only species of Acinula known, Acinula candicans, is 
found on the rotten leaves of the common alder, and among 
melting snow ; its organization is of another kind from that of 
the spermoedia ; and Fries, who regards the other as a morbid 
state of the grain of certain grasses, considers acinula as a true 
fungus.§ 

M. Debourge considers, that ergot is an animal product from 
the telephorous family. The insect deposits a liquid of its own 
formation on a grain of rye and produces the ergot ; whence 

* French, ergot, " a spur." 

f Dr. Wright, Edin. Med. and Surg. Journ. Jan. 1841. 

% Syst. Mycol. 

§ Brande's Dictionary of the Materia Medica, p. 233, Lond. 1839. See, 
also, Venus, Grundriss der medicin. Receplirkunst, u. s. w. S. 347. Weimar, 
1838; and the opinions of Schreber, De Geer, Parmentier, Buffon, Von Mun- 
chausen, Tessier, Zuckert, Rbssig, Hube, Aymen, Robert, Tillet, &c, in 
Wright, op. cit. 



ERGOTA. 249 

it follows, he conceives, that ergot may be produced at plea- 
sure by expressing this liquid upon all the grains of rye that are 
within a certain period of their maturity.* 

Recently, Mr. Smitht and Mr. QuekettJ have maintained, 
that ergot is not a fungus, but a diseased state of the grain oc- 
casioned by the growth of a fungus not previously detected : to 
this fungus the latter gives the name Ergotselia\ abortans or 
Ergolsetia abortifaciens. By the microscope, they discovered 
sporules, sporidia, or jointed bodies, which appeared to be the 
reproductive particles of the fungus. 

Mr. Francis Bauer, || however, who has made the ergot a sub- 
ject of particular study, and who, about thirty years ago, under- 
took, at the suggestion of Sir Joseph Banks, a series of careful 
microscopical observations with a view to determine the nature 
and cause of that singular production, does not consider the ques- 
tion as to the cause of the ergot to be finally and satisfactorily 
settled. He states, that he is not convinced that the filamentous 
fungi with numerous sporidia, pointed out by various recent 
observers, are the cause or the consequence of the ergot : — be- 
cause, first — every gramineous plant is equally infected with that 
minute filamentous fungus, yet very few of these plants produce 
ergots ; and amongst agricultural grains, the rye is the only one 
that is subject to the disease ; and secondly, in autumn all decay- 
ing plants are infected with such filamentous fungi and minute 
sporidia. Mr. Bauer's investigations lead him, however, to de- 
termine the ergot to be a morbid condition of the seed. 

Ergot is in grains, from a third of an inch to an inch and a 
half long, and from a line to three lines in diameter, usually 
curved like the spur of a cock, having commonly two longitu- 
dinal furrows, and often irregularly cracked and fissured. Ex- 
ternally, it is of a dingy-purple hue ; internally, of a pale gray- 
ish-red or grayish-white. Its odour is peculiar, fishy and nau- 
seous ; taste obscurely acrid and disagreeable. Unless excluded 
from the air, it swells and softens, acquiring a deep black colour 
and heavy smell ; and becoming infested by a little acarus, which 
is about one-fourth the size of the mite of cheese, and destroys 
the interior of the ergot, leaving the grain as a mere shell. In 

* Socittts Savante.i,\n Encyclographie des Sciences M^dicales, Avril, 1838. 

t Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, xviii. Pt. 3, p. 449. 
London, 1840. 

^ Ibid. p. 453, and London Lancet, June 22, 1839, p. 465. See also an 
abridgment of a communication read by Mr. Quekett before the Linnean Society, 
Dec. 4, 1838, with illustrative woodcuts, in American Journal of Pharmacy, 
for July, 1839, p. 116. For remarks on an insect met with in the diseased 
grain, see a paper by Mr. Muller, of Butler county, Pa., with comments by Dr. 
Carson, in Amer. Journal of Pharmacy for Jan. 1839, p. 269. 

$ From ergola, and a/<r/*, "cause." 

|] Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, xviii. Pt. 3, p. 481. Lond. 
1840. 



250 ERGOTA. 

four months, seven and a half ounces of fecal matter of the acarus 
were formed from seven pounds of ergot.* The powder becomes 
quickly damp, and full of animalcules. It ought, therefore, to 
be fresh : certainly it ought not to be kept for a longer period 
than two years. 

It has been proposed, lately, to dip the dried ergot in a con- 
centrated solution of gum Arabic ; to dry this on a plate of white 
iron ; and when it is dry, to repeat the process two or three 
times ; keeping it afterwards in a well stopped bottle. t 

As it is important to judge between a good and bad specimen 
of ergot, Dr. Wright remarks,:): that if it be clear and smooth 
on the surface ; not powdery ; of a deep purple colour ; neither 
entirely black nor light brown; having a full strong odour; 
breaking clearly ; exhibiting a pink blush interiorly; unpunc- 
tured by insects ; burning with a clear jetting flame, and being 
of a less specific gravity than water, its activity may be trusted. 

It has been affirmed recently, as the result of actual trials, that 
ergot picked from growing rye is much more powerful than that 
which is gathered on the barn floor after the grain has been 
threshed. § 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The effects produced on the animal economy by ergot, when 
eaten as food, are extremely injurious : the aggregate of the 
symptoms has been termed Ergotism. At times, they^are limited 
to vertigo, spasms, and convulsions, with a peculiar tingling or 
formication in the arms and legs, which has given the affection 
the name among the Germans of Kriebelkrankheit, or " creeping 
disease." Most commonly, the limbs waste away, lose sensation 
and the power of motion, and separate from the body by dry 
gangrene — constituting gangrenous erethism or mildew mor- 
tification.\\ These, however, are the toxical, not the therapeu- 
tical effects of the agent. IT 

The extraordinary property, ascribed to ergot, of assisting the 
parturient efforts, has long been credited in Germany. Its old 

* Pereira, Elem. of Mai Med. and Therap. ii. 916. Lond. 1842 ; or Amer. 
Edit, by Dr. Carson, Phil-ad. 1843. 

f M. Martin, Journ. de Chim. Med. Avril, 1841. 

% Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. Oct, 1839, p. 296. 

§ Bottcher and Kluge, cited by Christison, Dispensatory, p. 414. Edinb. 
1842. 

|| See articles, Convulsio cerealis, and Ergotism, in the Author's Medical 
Lexicon, Philad. 1843; also, his Therapeutics, p. 272, Philad. 1836; and his 
General Therapeutics and Mat. Med. ii., 196. Philad. 1843. 

IT See Christison on Poisons, 3d. edit. chap. xl. Dr. Wright, op. cit. p. 307, 
and Jan. 1840, p. 9. 



ERGOTA. 251 

German names, Mutterkorn (" wombgrain") and Gebarpulver 
(" parturient powder " pulvis ad par turn), are sufficient evi- 
dences of this notion ; but, for a long time, this was rather a matter 
of popular than of scientific belief, although the "pulvis partu- 
rientis^ of the Marburg Pharmacopoeia consisted principally of 
ergot.* 

About thirty-six years ago, it was recommended in this 
country by Dr. John Stearns, of Saratoga county, New York, 
and since that time the weight of testimony adduced in its 
favour on both sides of the Atlantic has been overwhelming. 
Still there are many distinguished individuals, who deny it all 
power over the uterus both in the unimpregnated and the im- 
pregnated state, and who affirm, that it acts only indirectly on 
that viscus through the general disturbance it occasions, and that, 
therefore — like every other internal agent administered as an 
abortive — it ought to be esteemed rather indirect than direct in 
its action. Such is the decided opinion of Jorg,t whose attention 
has been directed to the effects produced by different medicinal 
agents on the sound and diseased economy, and who goes so far 
as to affirm, from his experiments and observations, that there is 
no " farther connexion between these degenerate grains and the 
uterus, than the word Mutter (' uterus') which is common to 
both." 

From his various and varied experiments, Dr. Jorg infers, that 
ergot, when given in small doses, produces little or no effect 
upon the functions ; but that when fresh dried in an oven, and 
administered in large doses, it oppresses the stomach, occasioning 
nausea, vomiting, colic, liquid evacuations, destroys the appetite, 
and injures the digestive powers ; these effects being accompa- 
nied by a sense of weight in the head, vertigo, cephalalgia, and 
by general torpor of the system. Under these circumstances, he 
thinks, it is not difficult to understand, that the connexion between 
the fetus and the uterus may be modified, and that abortion 
may take place. 

The author has caused various experiments to be instituted 
on the use of ergot in doses of half a dram and a scruple of the 
powder, and in the form of the oily matter referred to below. 
These experiments were made on both males and females ; and 
the general effects were those described by Dr. Jorg ; — when 
the dose was too large, nausea or vomiting often resulted, with 
signs of narcosis. They were made, at the author's desire, by 

* Dr. Wright, op. cit. p. 22. 

| Dass der Gebrauch inner Rcizmittel zur Beforderung der Geburt des 
Kindes tinnothig, fruclitlos, und gesunden Frauen sogar schadlich sei ; u. s. w. 
S. 40. Zeitz. 1833. See, also, Pereira, op. cit. p. 919, and M. Bonjean, in 
Rapport de MM. Bussy, Pelletier, Dubail, Frcmy pere et F. Boudet, in Journ, 
de Pharmacie, Fcvrier, 1812, p. 175. 



252 ERGOTA. 

Drs. Cottman and McKee, at the time, resident physicians at the 
Philadelphia Hospital.* A case of narcosis, produced by this 
drug, in the dose of thirty grains — administered for the purpose 
of restraining a real or supposed tendency to hemorrhage after 
the expulsion of the placenta — was communicated to the author 
by Dr. Beckwith, of Raleigh, North Carolina.! 

When examined by the microscope, its internal structure is 
found to consist of minute roundish cells, many of which contain 
particles of oil. The bloom seen, at times, on its surface, seems 
to be composed of the sporidia of the fungus, to which it is 
believed by many to owe its origin.! 

Chemical analysis has thrown no light on the cause of those 
properties. According to the analysis of Vauquelin,§ ergot con- 
tains a colouring matter of a yellowish hue ; a white oily matter; 
a violet-colouring matter insoluble in alcohol ; a free acid, which 
is in part phosphoric ; a very abundant vegeto-animal matter, 
which is greatly disposed to putrefaction, and furnishes much 
thick oil and ammonia on distillation ; and a small quantity of 
free ammonia, which may be obtained at the temperature of 
boiling water. 

A more recent analysis has been made by Maas,|| of Hamburg. 
He found it to contain glnten; ammonia or a peculiar alkali; 
acetic acid; a violet-colouring matter ; resin; fixed oil ; an alka- 
line acetate ; but neither starch, hydrocyanic acid, narcotina, nor 
phosphoric acid, which some had discovered in it. IF 

Ergot has likewise been analysed by Bonvoisin, Pettenkofer, 
Winkler, Robert, Wiggers,** and others. The analysis of the 
last gentleman is very elaborate. The results were, — a thick 
white oil, 35.000 ; white fatty matter, 1.0456 ; cerin, 0.7578 ; 
fungin, 46.1862 ; ergotin, 1.2466 ; osmazome, 7.7645 ; sugar, 
1.5530; gum, extractive and colouring matter, 2.3250; vege- 
table albumen, 1.4600; phosphoric acid and phosphate of potassa, 
4.4221 ; phosphate of lime and traces of iron, 0.2922 ; silica, 
0.1394. Dr. Wright'stt analysis furnished him with the folio w- 

* Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intelligencer, Sept. 1, 1839, p. 161. See, also, 
M. Cordier, in Journ. Gen. de Med. Avril, 1823, and Dr. C. T. De Gravina, in 
Annali Universali di Medicina, Ottobre, 1839, and Brit, and For. Med. Rev. 
Oct. 1840, p. 555. 

f Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intel. Oct. 15, 1839, p. 213. See, also, Trous- 
seau and Pidoux, Traite de Therap. i. 546, Paris, 1837. 

X Christison, Dispensatory, p. 411. Edinb. 1842. 

§ Memoir du Museum, iii. 198, Paris, 1817. 

J) Bulletin des Sciences Medicales de Ferussac, xix. 332; and Merat and 
De Lens, Diet, de Mat. Med. Art. Ergot. 

If For Mr.Battley's Analysis, see Lond. Med. Gaz., Feb. 1831, and for that 
of Wigger's, Lancet, Nov. 10, 1832, from Allsem. Med. Zeitung. 

** Wright, Edinb. Med. and Surg. Jour. Oct. 1839, p. 298. 

tt Op.cit. 



ERGOTA. 253 

ing constituents and their proportions in 100 parts of ergot ; 
thick white oil, 31.00; osmazome, 5.50 ; mucilage, 9.00 ; gluten, 
7.00; fungin, 11.40; colouring matter, 3.59 ; fecula, 26.00; salt, 
3.10 ; loss, 3.50. Ergot appears to him to differ from sound rye, 
chiefly in the presence of oil, osmazome and fungin. 

Dr. Samuel Wright* gives the following process for preparing it. 
Digest ergot in liquor potassee, at a temperature of from 120° to 
150°, until a perfect saponaceous mixture is formed. The liquid 
must then be diluted with half its weight of water, be accurately 
neutralised by sulphuric acid, and submitted to distillation from 
a saltwater or oil bath. The product is white, adhesive, and 
fatty looking, almost free from empyreuma, and nearly tasteless. 
The readiest and best, but most expensive mode of obtaining 
it, is to pass ether through ergot in fine powder by the process 
of displacement. By allowing the ether to evaporate spon- 
taneously, the oil of ergot is left in its purest form.t 

Dr. Wright considers this oil to be the active matter of ergot ; 
and he states — - as the result of positive experiment — that it has 
the same effect in inducing powerful uterine contractions as 
ergot itself. 

Dr. Hooker, of New Haven,J found, that when a quantity of 
pulverised ergot was macerated for several days in sulphuric 
ether, and the liquid evaporated in a glass vessel until it no 
longer afforded the smell of ether, there remained at the bottom 
of the vessel a small quantity of thick heavy oil, resembling in 
appearance fish oil ; above this was a lighter oil, much more 
abundant than the former, of a light reddish- brown colour, and 
of a sweetish nauseous taste. This light oil was found to be 
possessed of decidedly narcotic properties. In two experimental 
cases, the effects of ergot continued apparent for nearly a week ; 
the pupils of the eye were dilated ; the pulse, respiration, and 
capillary action were very slow, and the skin livid, — with loss 
of appetite, general languor and lassitude, and rigidity and sore- 
ness of the muscles ; those of the thighs and other parts of the 
lower extremities being more particularly affected. For three 
days, the pulse continued below fifty, with a proportionate in- 
frequency of respiration. § 

In the experiments made with this substance by Dr. McKee,|| 
he found that in every case, when given in doses of from ten to 
forty drops, it at first produced slight exhilaration of the spirits 
with increase of circulation ; but these symptoms were soon fol- 
lowed by sedation, and in the larger doses by nausea also. 

* Eilin Med. and Surg. Journal, July, 1840. 
| A. Duhamel, Arner. Journal of Pharmacy, July, 1841, p. 95. 
% Boston Med. and Surg. Journ., x. 298, Boston, 1837. 
$ See Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intelligencer, Dec. 15, 1837, p. 329. 
|| Ibid, Sept. 1, 1839, p. 161. 
22 



254 ERGOTA. 

More recently, an ethereal solution has been prepared by Dr. 
Rees, by digesting four ounces of powdered ergot in four fluid 
ounces of ether for seven days. The ether dissolves the fatty 
matters contained in the drug. It is then poured off, evaporated 
to dryness, and the residue again dissolved in two fluid ounces 
of ether. Repeated trials of this preparation have been made by 
Mr. J. C. W. Lever,* who affirms, that it acts most powerfully 
on the parturient powers of the uterus during and after labour. 
What is singular, — Mr. Lever remarks, — whilst all the other 
preparations of ergot not unfrequently produce acro-narcosis, he 
lias not once seen these symptoms supervene on the use of the 
ethereal solution. He thinks they are most probably caused by 
some constituent of the drug, which ether does not dissolve, — 
a view which cannot be reconciled with the results of the expe- 
riments detailed above. 

Each ounce of the preparation, Dr. Rees thinks, may be con- 
sidered equivalent to two ounces of ergot; or fifteen drops to a 
half dram dose of the powdered drug. Mr. Lever gave it in 
doses varying from fifteen drops to thirty, dropped upon sugar, 
and he found that uterine action commenced in twenty minutes 
or half an hour. 

Although ergot is capable of producing the acro-narcotic 
effects described above, their supervention is not desired by 
those, who regard it to be possessed of peculiar powers by 
which it causes contraction in the uterine fibres of the partu- 
rient female, and who administer it with that view. When 
given in appropriate and properly repeated doses, the ute- 
rine action, they assert, becomes more energetic, and the con- 
tractions constant and almost unremitting ; but there is no ac- 
companying disorder. Cases are on recordt in which it has ap- 
peared to induce rupture of the uterus, where the obstacles to 
delivery were invincible. It has been largely administered, 
and in no country, perhaps, more than in this : practitioners of 
the greatest eminence — here and elsewhere — have placed the 
fullest reliance on its powers to excite contraction of the uterine 
fibres, and although in many of the cases which fell under their 
observation, the parturient efforts might have recurred without 
the agency of the ergot, this could scarcely have been the case 
with the remainder. From the results, therefore, of these cases, 
we seem to be compelled to admit, that ergot is possessed of 
expulsive properties by which it acts upon the parturient uterus ; 
but that it is capable of producing any effect upon the unim- 
pregnated uterus, or upon the impregnated, at any time, except 



* Lond. Med. Gazette, Apl. 10, 1840, p. 108. 

t M. Delmas, Journal de Medecine de Montpellier, and Journal de Phar- 
macie, Juin, 1842, p. 546. 



ERG0TA. 255 

when parturition has commenced, is denied by many. It has 
been lately affirmed, indeed, that in the neighbourhood of Trois 
Croix, in France, there was, during the season of 1841, an epi- 
zootic abortion amongst the cows, which had caused much con- 
sternation with the farmers ; and that M. Bodin,* director of the 
school of agriculture, had discovered, that the grains of rye, and of 
many other of the graminece contained a considerable quantity of 
ergot. This he concluded was the cause of the epizootic. On the 
other hand, the experiments of Dr. Wright,! and of Dr. De Gra- 
vina,| seem to exhibit the singular fact, that ergot appears to 
have the power of prolonging gestation in the guinea pig and 
rabbit, when administered for a considerable period.§ The 
result of all observations precludes the belief, that the in- 
creased parturient efforts, resulting from its agency, are produced 
indirectly by violence done to the constitution of the mother, in- 
asmuch as, in most of the recorded cases of benefit accruing from 
its administration, no such violence would appear to have been 
perpetrated. Yet, admitting the full power ascribed to ergot in 
these cases, it can be rarely necessary to have recourse to it ; and 
it is doubtless often employed, where the propriety of the ad- 
ministration of it, or of any other agent, is extremely question- 
able. A recent writer, who places the discovery of its powers in 
the same rank with that of the vaccine virus, states, that he has 
administered it in 1500 cases !|| 

But the effect produced by ergot upon the mother has not 
been the only topic of interest in regard to its use in parturition. 
It has been maintained by many, that since its introduction, the 
number of the still-born has augmented, and that observation 
has sufficiently shown, that where it is given to expedite delivery, 
more or less danger always accrues to the offspring -,11 either by 
the induction of asphyxia, or of positive death, owing to the 
violence of the uterine contractions, or by the deleterious agency 
of ergot on the fcetus.** But even were we to admit its pre- 
judicial effect on the fcetus in utero to be true — and it has 
been deposed to by many obstetricians — and that the number 
of the still-born is greater than formerly — which, however, 

* Journal de M6d. et Chirurg. Pratiq. Oct. 1841. 

f Op. cit. 

X Op. cit. 

\ Brit, and For. Med. Rev. Oct. 1840, p. 556. 

|| H. Wardleworih, Essay on the Chemical, Botanical, Physical, and Par- 
turient Properties of the Secnle Cornutum. Lond. 1840. 

^f Chevasse, in Transact, of the Provincial Med. and. Surg Association, iv. 
30G, Lond. 1836. Prof. R. M. Huston, North Amer. Med. and Surer. Journ. 
1829 ; and Mr. Chatto, in Lond. Med. Gaz. July 13, 1839, p. 575 ; also, 
Reports of Med. Society of London, in Lancet, Oct. 26, 1839, p. 168, and Mr. 
Wright, Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. Jan. 1840, p. 25. 

**°Mojon, in Gazette Med. de Paris, Janv. 19, 1839. 



256 ERGOT A. 

appears to be by no means the case — its influence could be but 
small, and could not account for the statistical differences that 
have been noticed.* 

Mr. Braithwaitef affirms, that in order that ergot should act 
perniciously on the child, it is necessary that its action on the 
uterus should be uninterrupted. He has seldom or never seen 
any bad effects on the child when the patient had some rest 
between the pains. 

In many cases, ergot has been largely administered, and yet 
the child has been born alive. Dr. James Patterson,! of Glas- 
gow, details the particulars of a case in which the enormous 
quantity of four ounces was given, yet the movements of the 
child continued lively ; and he refers to an excellent paper by 
Professor Von Busch,§ of Berlin, now before the author, which 
contains a reference to one hundred and seventy-five cases, in 
which it was given on account of deficient labour-pains. One 
hundred and seventy-seven children were born ; of these, one 
hundred and forty-two were born alive ; eighteen in a state of 
asphyxia, which was removed by appropriate treatment ; and 
seventeen still-born. Of the seventeen dead, seven had evidently 
died before labour, and were more or less putrid ; and ten, 
during labour ; of these, two lost their lives from turning ; one 
from presentation of the breech ; two from prolapsus of the 
funis ; one from narrow pelvis and detention of the head there- 
in ; one from the long duration of the fourth stage of labour ; 
one from a difficult forceps case, which required perforation 
afterwards ; one from a peculiar deformity of the extremities ; 
and one from no assignable cause : so that, of the one hundred 
and seventy-seven cases, there was but one which could be 
referred to the agency of the ergot, and there was no reasonable 
ground for such reference. 

A recent writer|| is disposed to think, that ergot, improperly 
administered, produces puerperal convulsions as a remote effect, — 
that it gives rise to the hour-glass contraction ; and that it gives 
a predisposition to hydrocephalus in the early stage of infantile 
life ! The chief or only cases in which Dr. Catlett seems to think 
it admissible, are when there is serious hemorrhage owing to 
detachment of the placenta, accompanied by deficient uterine 

* Avery, in Transact, of the Med. Society of the State of New York, vol. 
iii. Pt. 2, p. 185, Albany, 1837. 

f Retrospect of Pract. Med. and Surg. vol. i. No. 1, p. 181,3d ed. Lond. 1842. 

{ London Med. Gaz. June 1, 1839, p. 337. See, on this subject, Dr. E. 
Warren, New England Quarterly Journal of Medicine and Surgery, July, 1842, 
p. 10. 

§ Diegeburtshulfliche Klinik an der koniglichen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Uni- 
versitat zu Berlin, in neue Zeitschrift flir Geburtskunde, u. 6. w. B. v. H. i. S. 
107. Berlin, 1837. 

(| Dr. Catlett, Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. Jan. 1842. 



ERG0TA. 257 

tone ; and, in the latter stage of labour, in checking hemor- 
rhage from whatever cause. 

Dr. Frank Ramsbotham,* who regards ergot as capable of 
exerting specific powers on the uterus at all periods of utero- 
gestation, and who has referred to several cases of premature 
labour, induced in his own practice by its use, is disposed to con- 
clude, that although it may bring on labour without having 
recourse to any operation, yet that it does not present a more 
likely, or indeed so probable a means of saving the infant as the 
older method of puncturing the membranes ; and he infers, from 
his experience, that whatever might have been the quantity 
administered, unless it exerted a decided influence over the 
uterus, the child suffered no detriment.f 

Dr. PatersonJ and Mr. Heane§ have likewise administered 
ergot successfully in large doses with the view of inducing pre- 
mature labour. The former of these gentlemen is disposed to 
think, that its abortive properties are not exerted upon the im- 
pregnated uterus at an early period of utero-gestation, but that, 
at a certain stage of development, the uterine fibres are capable 
of being excited by it so as to expel the fostus. It would be 
strange were its agency to be thus restricted. 

When ergot was found to be possessed of the power of exci- 
ting uterine contractions, it was philosophical to employ it in 
retention of the placenta, in after-pains,^ and in cases of uterine 
hemorrhage, and of convulsions^ in the parturient state, accom- 
panied by atony of the uterus.** In such cases, means of more 
speedy action are needed ; but still, cases might arise in which 
the administration of ergot might be serviceable, and several 
such, attesting the services rendered by it, have been published. 

It has been strongly recommended, likewise, for the preven- 
tion of uterine hemorrhage by Stearns,tt De wees, J J Bradley,§§ 
Abraham. || || Kisch, Trousseau,1T1I and others. 

In a case of copious hemorrhage from the uterus connected 



* Lond. Med. Gaz. June 15th, 1839, p. 420. See, also, Ibid, for June 28, 
1831. 

f See, on this subject, Dr. J. J. Kelso, in Lond. Lancet, June 22, 1839, 
p. 462; and Duparrque, in Revue Medicale, Mars, 1838. 

% Lond. Med. Gaz. June 1, 1839, p. 332. See, also, Ibid. Sept. 1838. 

§ Ibid. Jan. 20, 1839. For various opinions on this subject, see Mr. Wright, 
in Edinb. Med. and Surg. Jour. Jan. 1840, p. 27. 

|| Hoffman, in Berl. Med. Zeitung, June 29, 1836. 

T[ Duparcque, Revue Med. Mars, 1838. 

** Von Rusch, Op. cit. i. 105. 

ft Philad. Journ. of Med. and Phys. Science, v. 44. 

XX System of Midwifery. 

§§ Lancet, April 15, 1837. 

j||| Ibid. April 22, 1837. 

\^ Journal des Connoissances, 1839. 
22* 



258 ERGOTA. 

with polypus, Mr. Moyle* administered two drams of the tinc- 
ture of ergot, which was repeated at intervals, with the effect of 
inducing uterine contraction and the expulsion of the polypus, 
"which equalled in size two large placentae." Mr. Moyle was 
equally successful in a similar case. 

Other cases in which the effect of the ergot was to force down 
the polypus so that a ligature could be applied to it, have been 
related by Dr. Somerville and Dr. McFarlane.t 

The employment of ergot has been extended to amenor- 
rhoca,% and dysmenorrhea, and to uterine hemorrhage in the 
unimpregnated female, and many cases have been published 
in confirmation of its being possessed of such virtues.§ It was 
thought, also, that it might be serviceable, — and was found so 
by Bazzoni,|| Negri, Langlet,! and others, — in leucorrhcea, and 
in gonorrhoea,** dysentery, if &c. ; and again, as it proved to be 
useful in uterine hemorrhage, it was conceived, that it might 
exhibit like powers in other hemorrhages ; and, accordingly, it 
•was given in cases of epistaxis, haemoptysis, haernatemesis, 
hematuria, &c. In these last cases, it has been rarely em- 
ployed.};}: It is proper to observe, however, that the author 
has often administered it in such cases, but has never had reason 
to believe, that it exerted any efficacy ; and such has been the 
case with MM. Trousseau and Pidoux,§§ Dr. Pereira,|||| and 
others.m The narcotic or sedative property, which it exhibits in 
certain cases and doses, and the sedative action, which it exerts 
in others, may render it serviceable in these affections, whatever 

* Lond. and Edinb. Monthly Journal of Med. Science, June, 1841. 

| Ibid. Aug. 1841. 

± Enriotti, in Repertorio Medico-Chirurgico del Piemonte, and Journal des 
Connoissances, Mars, 1838. Langlet, Bulletin Medical Beige, Juin, 1839, 
p. 125. Dewees, Midwifery, chap. Amenorrhcea ; Locock, Cyclop, of Practical 
Medicine, i. 70. Nauche, Nouveau Diet, de Med. et Chirurg. art. Ergot; 
and Mr. Wright, in Med. and Surg. Journ., Jan. 1840, p. 34. See, also, 
Churchill (with whom it failed), Diseases of Females, Dunglison's Amer. 
Med. Library edit. p. 54. Philad. 1839; Dr. G. Fyfe, Med. Gazette, June 
18, 1841. 

§ Dr. G. Fyfe, Op. cit. 

|j Annali Universali di Medicina, Feb. 1831 ; and Ryan, Medical Formulary 
p. 264, 3d. edit. Lond. 1839. 

If Op. citat. 

** Miiller in Rust's Magazine, B. xl. H. iii. and Amer. Journ. of the Med. 
Sciences, Feb. 1835, p. 527 ; Ryan, Op. cit. and Desruelles, Gazette des H6pi- 
taux, Juin 2, 1842. 

ft Mojon, Op. cit. 

XX Duparcque, Op. cit., and De Gravina, Annali Universali di Medicina, Ot- 
tobre, 1839. 

§{ Traite de Therap. i. 546. Paris, 1837. 

|]|| Elem. of Mat. Med. and Therap. ii. 925. Load. 1842. 

IMf See the Author's General Therap. and Mat. Med. ii. 197, Philad. 1843. 



EKGOTA. 259 

may have been the process of reasoning, which led originally to 
its employment.* 

The experiments of Dr. De Gravinaf led him to the inference, 
that ergot is a direct sedative, like digitalis, and hence he con- 
siders it a good antiphlogistic remedy, and well calculated to 
lower the vital powers. 

Dr. WrightJ affirms, that when applied to an abraded sur- 
face, it gives rise to profuse sloughing. He tried it. upon wounds 
nearly healed, and in less than 24 hours they discharged puru- 
lent matter abundantly. The matter was generally of an offen- 
sive character; and the wounds, thus treated, even under the 
application of proper curative means, were long and tedious in 
healing. In the form of powder, he found it very serviceable 
in arresting hemorrhage ; and not simply in a mechanical man- 
ner, as was proved by experiment. Even in the form of infu- 
sion, it possessed the power in an extraordinary degree. Muller 
divided the popliteal artery in the sheep, and completely arrested 
the bleeding by lint dipped in an infusion of ergot. The caudal 
artery, and the anterior crural artery of a horse were cut, and 
the bleeding was similarly subdued. Dr. Wright says, that 
he has several times divided the external jugular and the sa- 
phena major veins, and has never failed to arrest the hemor- 
rhage by an infusion of ergot, although with arteries he has been 
generally less successful. In the greater number of his experi- 
ments, he used a dilute solution of ergot, in the place of warm 
water, to sponge the bruised parts, and always succeeded in 
preventing that continued flow of blood, which is often a serious 
obstacle to the safe direction of the knife. He consequently 
recommends it as a valuable means of preventing the trouble- 
some hemorrhage from small vessels in the course of surgical 
operations ; and upon the same principle he believes the injection 
of* a similar solution into the uterus, in cases of flooding, will be 
found to answer every practical end that can be desired. 

In a severe case of epistaxis, Dr. Wright§ arrested the hemor- 
rhage by injecting up the nostrils equal parts of very dilute spirit 
and of oil of ergot ; and he has little doubt, that in the severe cases 
of uterine hemorrhage, that follow delivery, the injection of the 
oil diffused through water into the uterus would be productive 
of the happiest results. It proved also serviceable in arresting 
hemorrhage after the extraction of a tooth and from leech-bites. 

Dr. Wright found the oil a valuable external application in 

• See some remarks on this subject, by the Author, in his Amer. Med. 
Intel, vol. i. p. 219. 
f Op. citat. 

J Op. cit., Jan. 1840, p. 20. 
§ Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. July, 1840. 



260 ERGOTA. 

cases of local rheumatism,. In three instances it was entirely 
successful. The affected part was well rubbed with it for a quarter 
of an hour night and morning, until relief was obtained. He states 
farther, that it is one of the most valuable remedies with which 
he is acquainted in toothach. He has repeatedly known it sub- 
due the pain when creasote had failed. 

By Lisfranc,* the powder was employed, in the dose of from 
two to eight grains, in cases of hypertrophy of the uterus of vari- 
ous kinds, whenever reduction of the organ to a less size seemed 
to be the prominent indication ; and Dr. Perrinet has published 
some cases of periodical diseases, in which it was administered 
with advantage during the intervals ; but no further results ap- 
pear to have been elicited. 

M. Payant thinks it demonstrated, that ergot is primarily and 
essentially an excitant of the spinal marrow; and he conceives, 
that its action on the uterus, bladder, and muscles of the lower 
extremities is but secondary, from a reflex action transmitted 
from the spinal marrow to those organs through the nerves dis- 
tributed to them. He has given the details of some cases of 
paraplegia, which seemed to be relieved by ergot ; an infusion 
of fifteen grains in water being given at first in the course of 
the day, and the dose being gradually augmented.§ 

M. Allier, fils,|| from having observed, as he believed, con- 
traction of the fibres of the bladder under the administration of 
ergot, has recommended it highly in cases of retention of urine ; 
and feels himself justified in inferring, from the results of varied 
observation, that it is capable of restoring to the bladder the con- 
tractility it may have lost owing to immoderate distension of its 
coats by accumulation of urine; — that its action has been evinced 
in cases in which this kind of paralysis has resisted all known 
therapeutical agents ; and that, owing to the fugacious character 
of its operation, it ought to be administered at short intervals, in 
broken doses, and these should be long continued. 

M. Allier recommends, that it should be commenced in the 
quantity of a scruple in the day, divided into six equal parts, 
that the quantity should be afterwards raised to forty grains, and 
then gradually diminished to a scruple ; and afterwards discon- 
tinued by degrees in eight or ten days after the cure, in order to 
consolidate it. 

Lastly, — In the Jlnnales de la Societe" de Medecine de Gand, 

* Pauly's Lisfranc, translated by Dr. Lodge, p. 330. Boston, 1839. 
f Amer. Journ. of the Med. Sciences, Nov. 1833, p. 279. 
X Revue Medicale, Fevrier et Mars, 1839 ; and EncyclogTaph. des Sciences 
Medicares, Avril, 1829 ; also Journal de Pharmacie, Juin, 1842, p. 545. 
§ See, also, Petrequin, Bulletin de Therapeutique, Mars, 1840. 
|| Journal des Connoissances Medico-Chirurgicales, Not. 1838. 



ERGOTA. 261 

M. Guersant* has published two cases in which he administered 
ergot with the greatest advantage to effect the expulsion of 
fragments of calculi, after the operation of lithotrity. Twenty- 
four grains were first given in three doses during the day, but 
no effect having been produced, the dose was increased to thirty 
grains in the day, when the patient experienced frequent desire 
to pass the urine, followed by pain in the hypogastric region, 
pricking in the limbs, and slight derangement of vision. After 
using the medicine for five days, fragments of calculi were passed, 
and, during twenty-four hours, in three times the quantity that 
had been discharged during the whole previous period subsequent 
to the operation. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The great difference that has been observed in the effects of 
ergot has led to the belief, that there must be much difference 
in the article, and that every care must be taken to have it good. 
Dr. Ryan,t indeed, affirms that not one druggist or chemist in a 
hundred has it genuine. 

It must be recently pulverised, too, if we are desirous to count 
upon its action when given in this form.J 

When prescribed with the view of augmenting the parturient 
energy, it is most commonly perhaps given in powder, in the 
dose of from ten to twenty grains, repeated every twenty mi- 
nutes until the effect upon the uterus is elicited. Professor Von 
Busch§ found the best results when it was given in the dose of 
ten grains at short intervals — from ten to fifteen minutes. In 
one case it was requisite to repeat it eight times ; in four cases, 
six doses were sufficient; in twelve, five ; in thirty-three, four, 
and in the remainder of the one hundred and seventy-five cases, 
three and less : the smallest quantity exhibited was a single 
dose of ten grains ; the largest, nine doses of ten grains. Dr. 
Ryan || says the maximum dose is a dram and a half; but it, 
obviously, cannot be thus limited. 

Dr. Hooker, who considers, that the ecbolic and the narcotic 
properties of ergot may be separated, recommends, in these 
cases, the clear infusion, which possesses, he conceives, the for- 
mer property only. The powder of course contains both. 

Dr. Bishop, of New Haven,! asserts, that he has never seen 

* Journal de Medecine et de Chirurg. Pratiq. November, 1839. 

f Formulary, p. 264. 

i Allier, Op. cit. 

\ Op. cit. S. 106. 

| Op. cit. 

f Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intelligencer, Dec. 15, 1837, p. 330. 



262 ERG0TA. 

but once any unpleasant effects from the use of ergot, and then 
he gave it in powder : the labour was protracted and narcotism 
induced. In New Haven, it is the general practice to administer 
the infusion, and in that form it is considered safe and effective 
in parturition. It is not easy, however, to see how the fixed 
oil can be taken up by hot water.* The infusion is termed in 
France, " The deSeiglenoirci des sages-femmes Americaines! ,,J f 
Recently, the sedative properties of ergot have been affirmed to 
exist in the aqueous extract, which has been given in the dose 
of from 15 to 30 grains in hemorrhage, j 

It is proper, however, to remark, that the form of infusion as 
well as of decoction was found by Dr. Jorg to be highly unplea- 
sant to the stomach, and it could not be repeated in his experi- 
ments — which, it must be remembered, were not made on the 
parturient female — in large doses for any length of time, without 
irritating the bowels, producing loss of appetite, and general im- 
pairment of the digestive function. 

Dr. Wright,§ recommends the oil of ergot to be given in the 
dose of 20 to 50 drops in tea, weak spirit and water, some 
aromatic water, or made into an emulsion with mucilage and 
syrup. It would seem to be the most advisable form of exhibi- 
tion, as the oil retains its properties for several years, if kept in 
well closed bottles excluded from light. 

As to the form of tincture, Mr. Battley affirms, that alcohol 
will not extract the active property, and Dr. Ryan|| states, that 
he has certainly found the tincture to fail in the majority of cases. 
Mr. Battley prefers the watery extract. 

For the purpose of inducing premature labour, it has been ne- 
cessary to give it in larger doses. Dr. PatersonlT gave it in the 
form of the infusion, p. 263, until the patient took six drams of 
the medicine. The infusion was likewise given by Dr. F. Rams- 
botham,** and the quantity which each of his patients took varied 
from two to twelve drams. 

When the ergot is given with other views, the usual dose is 
10 or 15 grains of the powder, three or four times a day : the 
results of the observations of Dr. Cottmantt have shown, how- 
ever, that in 30 grain doses its sedative effects are more marked. 
This, too, was the dose in which it was administered by Dr. 
Hooker. In such cases, the tincture, and the light oil described 

* See the Author's General Therapeutics and Materia Medica, i. 427. 
Philad. 1843. 
f Journal de Pharmacie, Fevrier, 1842, p. 177. 
X Bonjean, in Rapport cit. 
§ Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. July, 1840. 
|| Op. cit. p. 266. 

^ Lond. Med. Gaz., June 1, 1839, p. 333. 
** Ibid. June 15, 1839, p. 421. 
ft Dunglison's American Med. Intelligencer, Sept. 1, 1839, p. 161. 



ERGOTA. 263 

by Dr. Hooker, may also be prescribed ; — the latter in the dose of 
ten to thirty drops. 

Infusum ergots, 

Infusion of ergot. 

R. Ergot. Jj. 

Aques bullientis, f.^iv. 
Infuade. 

Dose. — One third, to be repeated every 15 or .20 minutes, in 
deficiency of uterine contractions. 

R. Ergot, gss. 

Aquse bullientis, f.^xxiv. 
Colaturse adde 

Syrup, simpl. f.Jj. 

Dose. — Two ounces every three or four hours, to induce pre- 
mature labour. Paterson. 

R. Ergot. 3ss. 
Infunde per semihoram in 

Aquse bullientis, i.% iss. et cola. 

This quantity to be taken for a dose, and repeated every four 
hours. F. Ramsbotham. 

Decoctum ergots. 
Decoction of ergot. 

R. Ergot. gj. 
Aquse, Oijss. 
Coque ad Oij.et cola. 

Dose. — A table-spoonful every quarter of an hour. 

Ti net lira ergots. 

Tinctura of ergot. 

R. Ergot, sjijss. 

Alcohol, dilut. Oj. 
Macera per dies quatuordecim et cola. 

Dose. — Twenty minims to two drams, two or three times a 
day, as a sedative agent. Guy's Hospital. 



264 



Syrnpus ergots. 

Syrup of ergot. 

(Strop de Calcar. — Desgranges.) 

R-. Ergot, gr. xx. 

Extract, opii, gr. f. 
Syrup. f.5viij. M. 

Dose. — Two table-spoonfuls (one ounce) in cases of en- 
gorgement of the uterus. Lisfranc. 

Pnlveres ergots composite 

Compound poivders of ergot. 

{Jlntihemorrhagic powders. — .Rfan.) 

R. Ergot. 5ss. 

Pulv. aromat. ^ss. 
Sacch. 3ss. 
M. et divide in chartulas. x. 

Dose. — One, every hour or every second or third hour, in ac- 
tive hemorrhage from any outlet. In leucorrhoza and gleet, one 
may be given three or four times a day, and should they fail the 
following may be substituted. 

B. Ergot, pulv. 9ij. 

Cubeb. pulv. ^j. 

Pulv. aromat. 3ss. 

Sacch ar. Jj. 
M. et divide in chartulas viij. 

Dose. — One, three or four times a day. Ryan. 

Pilulae ergots. 

Pills of ergot. 

R. Ergot, pulv. gr. ix., xij. vel gr. xviij. 
Ext. hyoscyam. gr. i. 
Potass, nitrat. gr. xv . 
Camphor, pulv. gr. iij. M. et divide in pil. xl. 

Two to four, every two hours, in cases of urethritis of the pros- 
tatic or membranous portion of the canal. Desruelles. 



EUPHORBIA LATHYRIS. 265 

Vinnm ergots. 

Wine of ergot. 

R. Ergot, contus. §ij. 
Vini, Oj. 

Macerate for 14 days, shaking occasionally ; then express, and 
filter through paper. 

Dose. — F.3j. to f.3ij. Pharm. U. S. 1842. 

Injectio ergots. 

Injection of ergot. 

R. Ergotae, §ss. 

Aq. bullient. Oss. 

Used in cases of erythemoid vaginitis and urethritis. 

Desruelles. 



LXIV. EUPHORBIA LATHYRIS. 

Synonymes. Cataputia Minor, Lathyris,Tithymalus Latifolius, Caper Spurge, 
Garden Spurge, Mole Plant. 

The oil of spurge — Oleum Euphorbije Lathyridis — has 
been recently recommended in medicine. Although the Euphor- 
bia is not a native of this country, it is sometimes met with in 
situations where it has the appearance of growing wild. It is 
easily cultivated, and in some parts of New Jersey, where it has 
been introduced, is found in abundance.* 

The oil, obtained from the seeds, resembles in colour the 
oleum ricini, but is less dense. It has no odour when newly 
prepared, and no perceptible taste. It is soluble in sulphuric 
ether, insoluble in alcohol, and forms a soap with the alkalies. 
Its s. g. is .920. 

♦ Scattergood, in Philad. .fourn. of Pharmacy, iv. 124, Philad. 1833. See 
also, Journ. de Chimie Med. ii. 178. 
23 



266 EUPHORBIA LATHYRIS. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

Dr. Charles Calderini found, that, in the dose of from four to 
eight drops, it acted as a cathartic on the adult, without occa- 
sioning colic or tenesmus. In half the quantity, it proved ca- 
thartic to children. He gave it in sugared water, or in the form 
of an emulsion ; and was of opinion that it might be advan- 
tageously substituted for castor oil, especially for children. 

After him, it was employed by M. Grimaud, and subsequently 
by M. Bally,* who carried the dose as far as "ten drops. 

Louis Frankf has suggested its employment in cases of taenia, 
hysteralgia, ascites, &c. 

It would appear, from the remarks of Mr. Scattergood, that 
the oil, obtained from the beans growing in this country, does not 
possess the mild qualities ascribed to the European article. Six, 
eight, ten, and twelve drops were given to several individuals as 
a cathartic ; and, although administered in conjunction with 
aromatic oils, and in one or two cases with an alkali in the form 
of soap, it invariably produced nausea, and even vomiting. Mr. 
Scattergood adds, that he has been informed by the manufac- 
turer, Mr. Thomas Bellangee, of Crosswicks, New Jersey, that 
when administered in small quantities, and repeated at intervals 
of half an hour or an hour, it operates on the bowels freely as a 
cathartic, without producing much nausea. 

PichonnierJ has proposed the following formula for a ca- 
thartic mixture. 

Mistura olei enphorbiae. 

Mixture of the oil of euphorbia. 

R. Olei euphorb. lathyr. gtt. viij. 
Acac. pulv. 5J- 
Sacchar. 31J. 
Aquse destillat. f.^iij. M. 

* Journal Universel des Sciences Medicales, xli. 254. 
f Journ. de Pharm. xi. 273 ; and Merat and De Lens, Diet. de. Mat. Med. 
iii. 183. Paris, 1831. 
% Journ.de Chimie Medicale. Paris, 1827. 



FERRI ARSENIAS. 267 



FERRI PRjEPARA'TA. 






Synonymes. Preparations of Iron. 
French. Les Preparations de Per. 
German. Eisenpraparate. 



LXV. FERRI ARSE'NIAS. 

Synonymes. Ferrum Arseniatum, Ferrum Arsenicicum Oxydulatum. 

French. Arseniate de Fer. 

German. Arsensaures Eisenoxydul, Arseniksaures Eisenoxydul. 

This preparation has been recommended by Mr. Carmichael,* 
who often applied it externally in cases of cancerous ulcers. 
Naturally, it presents itself in small, clear, bluish-green crystals, 
of a regular octaedral shape, and is called scorodite. Artificially, 
it is formed by double decomposition. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Glaser gives the followingformulafor its preparation : — Eight 
ounces of semivitrified white arsenic, sprinkled with a little spirit 
of wine and reduced to fine powder, are mixed with as much 
purified saltpetre. The mixture is then placed in an uncovered 
Hessian crucible, which should only be half filled with it, and 
then be placed in a wind furnace. At first, a slight degree of 
heat is applied, under which the mass soon melts, giving off 
copious red fumes, the inhalation of which should be carefully 
avoided. The process had better, therefore, be carried on in the 
open air, or in a laboratory that has a chimney with a good 
draft. When the mass no longer gives off red fumes, and 
flows tranquilly, the crucible must be carefully removed from 
the fire, the contents be suffered to cool somewhat, and boiling 
distilled water be poured upon them : underactive boiling they 
will dissolve altogether. Hot water, sufficient to fill the cruci- 
ble, is now added, and the whole is allowed to remain at rest 
for twenty-four hours ; at the expiration of which time a con- 
siderable quantity of beautiful crystals of acid arseniate of 
potassa is found on the sides of the crucible. The fluid, holding 
the salt in solution, is now filtered into a clean porcelain or 
glass vessel j the crystals are collected, dried carefully in the 
shade, and put away amongst the poisons as the Arsenias po- 
tasssc acidus. 

* An Essay on the Effects of the Carbonate and other Preparations of Iron 
upon Cancer, 2d edit. Dublin, 1809. 



26S FERRI PR.EPARATA. 

The fluid, poured from the crystals and filtered, is now diluted 
with distilled ivater, and a solution of pure sulphate of iron 
added thereto so long as any precipitate is thrown down. The 
bluish-green precipitate, insoluble in water, is the ferri arsenias, 
which must be collected on a filter, washed and dried in the 
shade. The process must be conducted with the greatest care, 
and the vessels used be cautiously cleansed or broken, for fear 
that mischief may arise. In these chemical operations, the acid 
of the saltpetre is decomposed by being heated with the arseni- 
ous acid or white arsenic, a part of its oxygen is taken by the 
latter, and arsenic acid is thereby formed, which unites with the 
potassa of the saltpetre and forms acid arseniate of potassa ; the 
nitric acid being converted into nitrous acid is given off in the 
form of red fumes : by admixture of a solution of sulphate of 
iron with the solution of the acid arseniate of potassa, a double 
decomposition ensues, the result of which is the formation of 
sulphate of potassa and arseniate of iron, which last, being insolu- 
ble, falls to the bottom of the vessel. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

According to Carmichael, this preparation acts more power- 
fully on the vitality of cancerous formations than any other 
agent, and the dead slough caused by it is much deeper than 
that caused by the application — which was at one time so 
much celebrated — called " PlunkeVs caustic?'' He allows, 
however, that the greatest caution should be observed in its use. 
Of late, he has employed a compound of arseniate of iron with 
phosphate of iron ; half a dram of the former to two drams of 
the latter. This mixture must be applied very thin by means 
of a camel's hair pencil, and not over the whole surface of the 
ulcer when it is extensive. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The compound, just mentioned, may be applied in the form of 
ointment, prepared in the following manner : — 

Unguentum ferri arseniatis compositam. 

Compound ointment of arseniate of iron. 

R. Ferri arseniat. Jss. 

phosphat. 5ij- 

Cerat. cetacei, 3vi. M. 

This ointment must be spread on lint and applied to the ulcer. 



FERRI BROMIDUM. 269 

Werneck gives it the preference over all the usual arsenical pre- 
parations. Arseniate of iron has likewise been administered 
internally in cancerous affections. The following formula may 
be used : 



Pilulse ferri arseniatis composite. 
Compound pills of arseniate of iron. 

R. Ferri. arseniat. gr. iij. 
Extract, gentian. 3j. 
Glycyrrhiz. pulv. 5ij- 
Syrup, cujusvis q. s. ut fiat 

Massa, in pilulas xlviii. dividenda. 



Dose. — One, three times a day. 



LXVI. FERRI BROMIDUM. 

Synonymes. Ferrum Bromatum, Bromated, or Bromide of, Iron; — in solu- 
tion, Hydrobromate of Iron, Ferri Hydrobromas. 
French. Bromure de Fer. 
German. Bromeisen. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

This preparation is made by heating equal parts of bromine 
and iron filings under water. As soon as the fluid becomes of 
a greenish colour, it is filtered, and evaporated to dryness : the 
reddish residue — again dissolved in water and evaporated — is 
bromide of iron. It has a brick-red colour ; dissolves readily in 
water, is deliquescent in the air, and has a very styptic taste.* 



EFFECTS ON TO ECONOMY AND MODE OF ADMINIS- 
TERING. 

Magendie has prescribed it successfully in cases, in which the 
preparations of bromine have been indicated. (See Brominum, 
p. 107.) He recommends the following formula. 

* Magendie, Formulaire pour la preparation, &c, de plusieurs nouveaux 
medicamens, dernicre edit. 
23* 



270 FERRI PRiEPARATA. 

PilulaE ferri bromidi. 

Pills of bromide of iron. 

R. Ferri bromid. pulv. gr. xij. 
Con feet, rosae, gr. xviij. 
Acaciae pulv. gr. xij. 
Fiat massa in pilulas xx. dividenda. 

Dose. — Two, morning and evening. Magendie. 

R. Ferri bromid. 3j. 

Extract, glycyrrhiz. q. s. 
ut fiat massa in pilulas lx. dividenda. 

Dose. — One or two, morning and evening, in cases of scro- 
phula, and hypertrophy — of the uterus especially. Werneck. 



LXVII. FERRI CARBURETUM. 

Synonymes. Ferrum Carburetum, F. Carbonatum, F. Supercarburetum ; 

Graphites, Plumbago, Carbo mineralis, Black Lead, Carburet of Iron. 
French. Carbure de Fer, Graphite, Crayon noir, Plombagine. 
German. KohlenstofTeisen, Graphit, Reissblei. 

This well known substance was formerly considered to be 
slightly astringent and desiccative. By Weinhold,* it has been 
advised strongly in certain cutaneous affections, but although it 
has been received into various pharmacopoeias of continental 
Europe, as the Antwerp, Bavarian, Brunswick, Spanish, Pari- 
sian, Finnish, Prussian, Saxon, and Swedish, it has never been 
recognised as a therapeutical agent in this country or in Great 
Britain. 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

As crude graphite is frequently very impure from the attached 
matrix, the Prussian Pharmacopoeia has a formula for its purifi- 
cation, the product of which bears the name graphites depuratus. 
With this view, the graphite must be very finely pulverised ; a 

* Der Graphit als ein neu entdecktes Mittel gegen Flechten. Leipz. 1809. 



FERRI CARBURETUM. 271 

pound of it is boiled in a proper quantity of common water, for 
an hour ; the water is then decanted, and two ounces of nitric 
acid and of muriatic acid, and eight ounces of common water 
are poured upon the graphite. This mixture is digested for 
twenty -four hours, frequently shaking it ; the acid fluid is then 
poured off, and, after the residuum has been washed by an ap- 
propriate quantity of common water, it is dried. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The internal use of graphite produces no perceptible change 
on the organic functions, except that, according, to Weinhold, 
under its protracted use, the urinary secretion is augmented, and 
a disposition to micturition excited. He found, however, that in 
herpetic and other cutaneous affections, it occasioned a very 
favourable modification in the eruption, and wholly removed it. 
In consequence of the results of his observations, he published 
a monograph in which he recommended it to physicians in those 
diseases. He employed it as well internally as externally. The 
urine, he asserts, after its administration, commonly began to 
make a deposite, and this continued until some change in the 
cutaneous affection announced its approaching cure. 

In cases of complication of herpes with other affections, Wein- 
hold combined it with other remedies ; — in syphilitic eruptions, 
adding corrosive sublimate, &c. 

The efficacy of graphite in herpetic and other cutaneous affec- 
tions has also been attested by many other respectable physi- 
cians, as Horn, Heim, Ruggieri, Brera, Bernstein, Hildenbrand, 
Richter, Hufeland, Marc,* &c. This circumstance gave occasion 
to its admission into the Prussian Pharmacopoeia; yet it has not 
the confidence of physicians, even in those countries into the 
pharmacopoeias of which it has been received, and is conse- 
quently but little prescribed. 

Its use in chronic cutaneous diseases is said to have been sug- 
gested by the circumstance, that, in Venice, the makers of crayons 
are speedily cured of any such affections under which they may 
labour.t 



* Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. Stuttgart, 1837, S. 214; see, 
also, Weinhold, in I lufeland's Journal, B. xxxiv. St. 1. S. 118: Heim, in 
Horn's Archiv. 1810, xii. 32G, and Ibid. 1811, U. 1. S. 91; Huber, in Med. 
Chir. Zeitunjr, 1811, No. 68, S. 282; Hufeland, Journ. der prakt. Heilkunde, 
B. xxxviii. St. G; Bernstein, Ibid. B. xli. St. 5; Mayer, Ibid. B. Ix. St. 2, 
and Osann, in Encyclop. Wbrterb. der Med. Wissensch. x. 434. Berlin, 
1834. 

t Merat and De Lens, in Diet, de Mat. Med. Art. Carbone. 



272 FERRI PR^PARATA. 

METHOD OF ADMINISTERING. 

Internally, graphite is given in doses of from five to fifteen 
grains, from two to four times daily ; and the dose may be aug- 
mented, according to circumstances, to a dram in the day. It is 
given in powder, or in the pilular form. Externally, it is applied 
in the form of ointment or plaster — from 5ij- to 5vj. of the gra- 
phite to an ounce of the constituent. 

Pulvis fcrri carbureti. 

Poivder of carburet of iron. 

R. Ferri carburet. 

Sacch. aa. Jss. M. 
Divide in partes sexual, vi. 

Dose. — One every two hours — in lichen leproides. 

Hildenbrand. 

Electnarium fcrri carbnreti, 

Electuary of carburet of iron. 

R. Ferri carburet. §ss. 

Mellis despumat. gij. M. 
Fiat electuarium. 

Dose. — A coffee-spoonful, morning and evening. 

Weinhold. 
Pilulae ferri carbnreti. 

Pills of carburet of iron. 

R. Ferri carburet. 

Extract, dulcamar. aa. Jj. 
M. fiant pilulae, pond. gr. ij. sing. > 

Dose.— Six, three times a day. Marker. 

R. Ferri carburet. 3ij. 
Zinci. oxid. Jss. 
Adipis, 5j. M. 

Mayer. 



FERRI CITRAS. 273 

Unguentum ferri carbnreti. 

Ointment of carburet of iron. 

R. Ferri carburet. 
Sulphur, aa. 5'j- 
Adipis, q. s. ut fiat unguentum. 



Brera. 



Emplastrum ferri carbnreti. 

Plaster of carburet of iron. 

R. Ferri carburet. Jij. 
Emplast. sapon. 5iv. 
Misce intime. 



Weinhold. 



LXVIII. FERRI CITRAS. 

Stnokyme. Citrate of Iron. 

French. Citrate de Fer. 

German. Citronsaures Eisenoxydul. 

Two citrates of iron have been proposed, of late years, by M. 
Beral* — the one the sesquicitrate or citrate of the ses- 
quioxide op iron ; the other the citrate of the protoxide 
of iron. 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

The citrate of the sesquioxide, according to Mr. Duhamelt is 
prepared as follows : — Take of Citric acid, crystallized, iij. or 
3 parts ; Hydrated oxide of iron, dry, §ij. or 2 parts ; Distilled 
water, oxij. or 12 parts. If the moist hydrate be used, about 3vj. 
are required ; but as the degree of moisture is not always the 
same, Mr. Duhamel suggests, that the oxide should be in excess. 
The ingredients above mentioned are boiled together in a matrass 
until the whole of the oxide is dissolved. The solution is filtered, 



* Journ. de Chimie M^dicale, and Amer. Journ. of Pharm. April, 1841, 
p. 72. 
f Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy, Oct*. 1842, p. 225. 



274 FERRI PR-EPARATA. 

and the filter washed with distilled water sufficient to obtain 12 
parts of liquid. This forms what is kept by the French Phar- 
maciens under the name Liquid Citrate of Iron, marking 24° 
of Beaume. It holds in solution one-third of its weight of dry- 
citrate of iron. 

Its taste is acid, but not disagreeable, and it is said to be of 
all chalybeate salts the least unpleasant to the taste. 

The citrate of protoxide of iron is prepared by M. Beral,* by 
treating iron filings with citric acid previously dissolved in 
distilled water. It has a strongly marked chalybeate taste. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

The citrates of iron resemble, in their properties, the tartrate 
and the lactate of iron, and may be given in the same cases. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The dose of citrate of iron may be the same as that of the 
salts above mentioned. It has been long administered in wine, 
of which the following are two forms ; — the first from the Ham- 
burg, and the latter from the Wirtemberg, Pharmacopoeia. 

Vinum ferri citratis aromaticum. 

Aromatic wine of citrate of iron. 

R. Ferri limatur. §j. 
Limon. succ. liij. 
Macera per noctem, et adde 
Gentian. 3ss. 
Cinnarn. Jij. 
Vini,3xvj. 

Dose. — Of the decanted wine, f.^ss. to f.Jij. and more. This 
preparation or one analogous to it is said to be prescribed by 
certain physicians of this country — of Charleston, for example.! 

Take of Iron filings, four ounces; Bitter oranges, four. 
Remove the peel, the white, and the seeds; beat them in^a 
stone mortar, and let the paste remain at rest for two days ; then 
pour upon it Madeira wine, ten ounces, and Spirit of orange- 
peel, two ounces. After sufficient digestion, express and filter. 

* Ibid. April, 1841, p. 72. 
t Duhamel, loc. cit. 



FERRI FERROCYANURETUM. 275 

This preparation is called, in the Wirtemberg Pharmacopceia, 
Tinctura Ferri Aurantiaca sen Martis cum Vino Malvatico et 
Pomis Aurantiis.* According to Mr. Gore,f it possesses the 
most agreeable odour and taste of any medicinal compound ever 
introduced into practice. It is aromatic, carminative and tonic ;" 
and he adds, that he has no doubt it will supersede the prepa- 
rations in general use, when once it has been fairly tried. In 
strumous habits ; in passive uterine hemorrhage ; in anasarca 
from general debility ; in chlorosis ; in malignant disease, in 
which iron has been extolled by Mr. Carmichael and others ; 
and in all diseases, that arise from a general deficiency of tone, 
Mr. Gore considers this preparation to be " of exceeding utility, 
from its agreeable and chalybeate qualities." He suggests, also, 
its use in chronic bronchitis, in which he gives it in combination 
with ipecacuanha wine. 

M. Beral has likewise introduced a Citrate of Protoxide of 
Iron and Quinia — Ferri et Quinije Citr as, which is formed by 
the union of four parts of Citrate of iron with one part of Citrate 
of quinia ; and may be given in the form of pills, wherever a 
combination of these tonics is needed. 



LXIX. FERRI FERROCYANURE'TUM. 

Svnonymes. Ferri Cyanidum, F. Cyanuretum, F. Cyanogenatum, Kyanu- 
retum Ferri, F. Oxydulatum Hydrocyanicum, F. Rorussias, Ferri Sesqui- 
cyanidum, Ferri Ferrosesquicyanidum, F. Percyanidum, Ferrocyanas Oxydi 
Ferri, Ferri Ferrocyanas, Ferrum Cyanuretum, Ferrum Zooticum,F. Borus- 
sicum, Cccruleum Borussicum, C. Beroliniense, Prussiate or Cyanide of 
Iron, Cyanuret of Iron; Prussian Blue, Berlin Blue. 

French. Trito-hydro-ferro-cyanate de Fer; Deutoxicyanure de Fer Hydrate; 
Tritohydrocyanate Ferrure de Fer, Prussiate de Potasse et de Fer, Bleu de 
Prusse. 

(ierman. Cyaneisen, BlaustofFeisen, Blausaures Eisenoxydnl, Eisenblau- 
saures Eisenoxyd, Eisencyaniircyanid, Berliner Blau, Pariser Blau. 

In commerce, this preparation with us bears the name " Prus- 
sian blue," but in Germany it is called " Pariser Blau." It is 
not in a state of purity, and, consequently, that which the apo- 
thecary prepares is best adapted for internal use. 

* Jourdan, Pharmacopie Universale, i. 545, Paris, 1828. 
| Dublin Med. Press, April 29, 1810, and Braithwaite's Retrospect, vol. i. 
p. 24, 3d. edit. Lond. 1812. 



276 FERRI PRJEPARATA. 



MODE OF PREPARING, 



The form given by Buchner is as good as any. Ferrocy- 
anuret of potassium, as commonly met with in commerce, is 
dissolved in warm distilled ivater, and to the clear filtered solu- 
tion is gradually added, in a glass vessel, a solution of chemically 
pure sulphate of iron so long as a precipitate is thrown down. 
After the precipitate has fallen to the bottom of the vessel, and 
the supernatant fluid, which contains sulphate of potassa, has 
been poured off, the precipitate is first digested with dilute sul- 
phuric or muriatic acid, in order to dissolve the excess of oxide 
of iron ; the beautiful dark blue precipitate is then collected on 
a filter, carefully washed with boiling water, and dried. 

The following form for the preparation of "pure Prussian 
blue," is admitted into the last edition of the Pharmacopoeia of 
the United States : — Take of Sulphate of iron, liv. ; Sulphuric 
acid, f.3iiiss. ; Nitric acid, f.5vj., or a sufficient quantity ; Ferro- 
cyanuret of potassium, givss. ; Water, 0\). Dissolve the sul- 
phate of iron in a pint of water, and, having added the sulphuric 
acid, boil the solution. Pour it into the nitric acid, in small por- 
tions, boiling the liquid for a minute or two after each addition, 
until it no longer produces a dark colour ; then allow the liquid 
to cool. Dissolve the ferrocyanuret of potassium in the re- 
mainder of the water, and add this solution gradually to the first 
liquid, agitating the mixture after each addition ; then pour it 
upon a filter. Wash the precipitate with boiling water until the 
washings pass tasteless. Lastly, dry it and rub into powder.* 

Ferrocyanuret of iron is of a beautiful deep blue colour, and 
devoid of odour and taste. It is decomposed by heat, and is in- 
soluble in water, alcohol, ether, oils and dilute acids. Potassa 
and soda decompose it. It adheres firmly to the tongue, which 
Riecke thinks, — though erroneously, — is owing to its contain- 
ing argil. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Of the effects of ferrocyanuret of iron on the human economy 
in health we have no evidence. Coullon gave it to various ani- 
mals, but observed no action from it. It has been given, how- 
ever, and not without success, in several diseases ; and Dr. L. 
W. Sachs, who has not unfrequently administered it, considers 
it one of the most important chalybeates with which we are ac- 
quainted. He thinks it probable, that hydrocyanic acid has not 

* Pharmacopoeia of the United States, p. 109. Philad. 1842. 



FERRI FERROCYANURETUM. 277 

much agency ; yet it certainly seems to differ from all the other 
preparations of iron. 

It has been especially recommended in epilepsy by Kirck- 
hoff* of Ghent, In very obstinate cases, not dependent upon 
organic mischief, he succeeded entirely with it ; with the adult, 
he commenced with half a grain daily, and raised the dose 
gradually to three, four, and even six grains and upwards. 
When the patient was plethoric, he premised bloodletting, or 
applied leeches, from time to time, to the temples. Hildenbrand 
and Gergeres confirm its efficacy in epilepsy. It has also been 
administered by Dr. Zollickofferj- successfully in a case of chorea ; 
three grains being given in the form of pill, three times a day. 
In six days, the girl, twelve years old, was entirely cured, after 
camphor, opium, quinia, and assafoetida, nitrate of silver, and 
subcarbonate of iron had been given in vain. 

In intermittent fever Dr. Zollickofferj found ferrocyanuret of 
iron so efficacious, that he even gave it the preference over 
cinchona ; and his experience has been confirmed by that of 
Eberle,§ Hosack,|| J. E. Craighead,^ and others. Wutzer, in 
Germany, also exhibited it successfully ; and Stosch gave it 
advantageously, in combination with cinchona and rhubarb, in 
a case of obstinate intermittent. Sachs likewise tried it fre- 
quently, but as often without, as with, success. When it has 
proved efficacious in intermittents, the dose has been by no 
means large. Some have given six or eight grains every four 
hours during the apyrexia, and even as much as a scruple has 
been administered. Sachs found it several times efficacious, 
when four doses of two grains each were taken ; and Riecke,** 
affirms, that his father obtained essential service from it in 
the leucophlegmatic conditions resulting from intermittent 
fever. 

Zollickoffer extols the ferrocyanuret also in remittent fever ; 
and there may, doubtless, be periods when it may be adminis- 
tered with benefit ; but it is not often used. He recommends 
it, likewise, in dysentery. ,tt when the inflammatory condition 
has passed away, either spontaneously or under the efforts of 
art ; and Sachs remarks, that in atonic conditions of the intes- 
tinal canal, which supervene on dysentery, it may doubtless be 



* Journ. de Chimie Me"dicale, iii. 285. See, also, Journ. des Connais. Med. 
Chirur. Aoiit, 1841 ; and Encycl. des Scien. Med. Sept. 1841, p. 4G8. 
| Medical Examiner, May 16, 1840, p. 314. 
X American Medical Recorder, v. 540. 
§ Materia Medica, 2d edit. i. 233. 
|| New York Medical and Physical Journal, 1823. 
^ Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intelligencer, May, 1842, p. 230. 
** Op. citat. S. 217. 

ft Chapman's Philadelphia Journal, Aug. 1823. 
24 



27S FERRI PR^PARATA. 

of great service. Gergeres administered it successfully in chro- 
nic diarrhoea. L. W. Sachs enters into a long theoretical dis- 
quisition on the precise action of the remedy, in which there is, 
doubtless, much that is speculative. He used it, he says, with 
success, in many cases which it would be difficult to classify 
under any formal nosology ; their common bond, however, was, 
that they were dependent upon " nervous disorders, especially 
of the plastic functions of the abdominal organs, the mischief 
appearing first of all to be gastric." In such affections he found 
a combination of the ferrocyanuret of iron with rhubarb especi- 
ally serviceable. He gave it in not less than two grain doses, 
which he gradually augmented to six grains, three times a day. 
Dr. Moll saw decidedly good effects from its use in a case of 
immoderate menstruation from atony of the uterus with gene- 
ral elevation of the nervous excitability, after he had employed 
the remedies, commonly recommended, unsuccessfully. He 
found it also extremely beneficial to children of a strumous 
habit, and of great torpor. 

Stosch found it serviceable in a case of scrophula, in which 
haematosis was imperfectly accomplished ; and Dr. Bridges* 
obtained great advantage from it in a case of severe and pro- 
tracted facial neuralgia. 

Externally, the ferrocyanuret has been used in the form of 
ointment, in cases of ill conditioned, torpid and foul ulcers, and 
even of noli me tangere. Stosch applied it in a case of fungous 
ulcer with marked advantage; making it into a paste with water 
and applying it in that form. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 
Pnlvis ferri f errocyanureti. 

Powder of ferrocyanuret of iron. 

R. Ferri ferrocyan. gr. iij. ad.xxxvj. 

Sacchar. 31J. M. et divide in pulveres vj. 

Dose. — A powder two or three times a day, in epilepsy. 

Kirckhoff. 

&. Ferri ferrocyan. gr. j., iv., vj., ad xij. 

Sacch. 5J- 
Fiat pulvis in partes xij. sequales dividendus. 

Dose. — A powder every two hours, in epilepsy. 

Hildenbrand. 

* Wood and Bache's Dispensatory, Art. Ferri Ferrocyanas. 



FERRI IODIDUM. 279 

R. Ferri ferrocyan. 

Guaiac. pulv. aa. 3j. 
Misce et divide in chartulas xij. 

Dose. — One, three times a day. — Employed successfully in 
intermittens.* 



Pilulae ferri ferrocyannreti. 
Pills of ferrocyanuret of iron. 

R. Ammoniac. 

Rhei rad. 

Ext. taraxac. aa. £j. 

Ferri ferrocyan. gr. xviij. ad. xxxvj. 
M. et fiat massa in pilulas lx. dividenda. 

Dose. — Four to six, twice a day, in disorder of the ganglionic 
system. 

Radius, according to L. W. Sachs. 

Unguentum ferri ferrocyanureti. 
Ointment of ferrocyanuret of iron. 

R. Ferri ferrocyan. gj. 

Unguent, cetacei, gj. M. et fiat unguentum. 



Applied to foul ulcers. 



LXX. FERRI IO'DIDUM. 

Stnonymes. Ferri Ioduretum, Ferrum Iodatum, Iodated Iron, Iodide of Iron, 

loduret of Iron, Protoioduret or Protiodide of Iron. 
French. Iodure de Fer, Protoiodure de Fer. 
German. Iodeisen. 
In solution, Ferri Ilydriodas, Ferrum Hydriodatum, Ferrum Hydroiodicum 

Oxydulatum, Hydriodated Iron, Hydriodate of Iron, Hydriodate of Protoxide 

of Iron. 
French. Hydriodate de For. 
German. Hydriodsaures Eisenoxydul. 

Although attention had been directed, several years ago, to 
this preparation, it was not much used, until Prof. A. T. Thom- 

* Ellis's Formulary, 6th edit. p. 173. Philad. 1842. 



2S0 FERRI PRjEPARATA. 

son,* of the London University, recommended it strongly in a 
special monograph several years since. It has been received 
into different Pharmacopoeias. 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

The following method is recommended by Dr. Thomson. One 
part of iron wire should be rubbed in a porcelain or wedgewood 
mortar, with about three or four parts of iodine, gradually adding 
distilled water, until fifteen parts of the fluid have been used : 
the whole is then to be introduced into a Florence flask, with 
an additional portion of wire and of distilled water. This ex- 
cess of iron is a matter of indifference in the preparation of the 
hydriodate, and in that of the iodide it is necessary for preserving 
the combination from decomposition during the evaporation of 
the solution. These materials are next to be boiled together, 
until the fluid acquires a pale greenish colour, when it must be 
filtered. This solution contains a hydriodate of the protoxide 
of iron ; and, if the exact quantity of the iodine be previously 
ascertained, so as to enable us to procure the solution of a defi- 
nite strength, it may be kept in this state for medicinal use. In 
general, however, the solution is evaporated to dryness, and, for 
this purpose, it may be poured into a clean flask, containing a 
piece of iron wire sufficiently long to reach from the bottom to 
the surface of the fluid, and the boiling should be continued until 
the bulk of the solution be reduced to one-third. It must then 
be filtered, after which the evaporation should be continued to 
dryness. It is necessary to break the flask as soon as the mass 
is cold, in order to obtain the solid iodide, which should be im- 
mediately transferred to a dry bottle, accurately fitted with a 
ground stopper. The bottle should not hold more than two 
ounces of the preparation ; for when it is large and not full, the 
iodide deliquesces nearly as rapidly as when it is exposed to the 
free action of the atmosphere. When the flask is broken, and 
the iodide bottled before the mass is cold, deliquescence also 
takes place, a peroxide of the metal is formed, and iodine is 
evolved. 

The form for the preparation of the solid iodide recommended 
in the last edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the United States is 
the following : — Take of Iodine, Sij., Iron filings, 3i., Distilled 
water, a pint and a half. Mix the iodine with a pint of the 
distilled water in a porcelain or glass vessel, and gradually add 
the iron filings, stirring constantly. Heat the mixture gently 

* Some Observations on the Preparation and Medicinal Employment of the 
Ioduret and Hydriodate oflron. 8vo. pp. 64. Lond. 1834. 



FERRI IODIDUM. 281 

until the liquid acquires a light greenish colour ; then filter, and 
after the liquid has passed, pour upon the filter half a pint of 
the distilled water boiling hot. When this shall have passed, 
evaporate the filtered liquor at a temperature not exceeding 212°, 
in an iron vessel, to dryness. Keep the dry iodide in a closely 
stopped bottle.* 

The plan proposed by Mr. Durand,f of Philadelphia, after that 
by MM. Baup and Caillot,J for preparing the solution of the 
protiodide of iron (hydriodate of protoxide of iron) is the fol- 
lowing : — Take of Iodine, %x., Iron filings, perfectly pure and 
unoxidised, 3v., Distilled water, Ixiiss. Put the iodine into a 
porcelain capsule, with one-half the quantity of water, add the 
iron filings by small portions, stirring the mixture with a glass 
rod. The combination soon takes place ; heat is evolved with 
the disengagement of a small quantity of vapour of iodine, and 
the mixture acquires an orange colour, which gradually deepens 
to a dark red. When the whole of the iron has been added, the 
capsule is put in a sand bath, or over the flame of a spirit lamp, 
and heated slowly ; continuing to stir the liquid. An ioduretted 
hydriodate of iron is first produced, which, under the action of 
heat, soon passes to the state of a simple hydriodate. This point 
is indicated by the entire discoloration of the solution. In this 
state it is filtered ; and the dregs and filter are carefully washed 
with the remaining half of the distilled water, previously heated 
to the boiling point. In this manner, a solution forming twelve 
and a half fluid ounces is afforded, one ounce of which represents . 
one dram of iodide of iron. 

The solution, which is at first colourless, acquires a deep red 
colour by standing, and precipitates some oxide of iron ; by 
which it is reduced to the state of an ioduretted hydriodate of 
irOn ; but it may be easily restored to its former state by heating 
it again with a small quantity of iron filings, until the liquid be- 
comes colourless : or, to prevent these changes, a coil of soft iron 
wire may be kept immersed in it ; a fact, which has been long 
known, § but which M. Dupasquier has recently rediscovered. || 

The iodide of iron is obtained by evaporating to dryness the 
filtered solution, taking care, towards the end, to stir incessantly 
with an iron spatula, and to detach the salt from the bottom of 
the capsule as it forms. The heat must be managed most care- 
fully, diminishing it gradually, and removing the capsule quickly 
from the fire as soon as the odour of iodine is evolved. The 
solution of this salt, when the iodide is well prepared, is of a 

* Pharm. of the United States, p. 110. Philad. 1842. 
t Philad. Journ. of Pharmacy, iv. 287. Philad. 1833. 
% Ibid. i. 201. 

§ Mr. Squire, Annals of Philosophy, May, 1836, p. 79. 
|| Journal de Pharmacie, Mars, 1842, p. 224. 
24* 



282 FERRI PRvEPARATA. 

pale greenish colour, and deeper in proportion to the decompo- 
sition, which some parts may have undergone towards the end 
of the operation. 

Iodide of iron requires to be well secured from the influence 
of the atmosphere, both on account of its deliquescent property, 
the rapid oxidation which the metal undergoes when deliques- 
cence occurs, and the consequent decomposition which takes 
place. It is important to prevent this, as the peroxide of iron is 
comparatively inert as a medicinal agent ; whilst the free iodine 
extricated during its oxidation, according to Dr. Thomson, alters 
altogether the virtues of the medicine. This partial decompo- 
sition of the iodide is rendered immediately apparent on dissolv- 
ing it in twenty times its weight of distilled water, and filtering: 
instead of a permanent, clear, very pale greenish-yellow, we 
obtain an ochre-coloured, completely insoluble precipitate. Much 
of the iodide, usually prepared, is of this description, and to this 
may, doubtless, be referred some of the disappointment and dis- 
crepancy amongst practitioners as to the operation of the medi- 
cine in cases apparently similar. Even when the iodide has 
been carefully prepared, it often contains a little free iodine ; 
but, according to Thomson, it is chiefly owing to the careless- 
ness of assistants and apprentices in compounding prescriptions, 
by frequently exposing the iodide to the air, that its properties, 
and, consequently, its medicinal powers, are impaired : hence, 
it is preferable to keep it in solution, or in the form of hydriodate, 
which it becomes, whenever water is added to it. 

If the solution be prepared with a definite quantity of iodine, 
as described, it will keep without changing its characters ; but 
as it is usually made, by dissolving the iodide in distilled water, 
it requires to be rendered neutral by the following means : — 
Introduce into a flask the solution of any given strength, and 
place in it two or three doubles of clean and soft iron wire, suf- 
ficiently long to extend to the surface of the fluid; boil for a few 
minutes, and then leave it at rest, until the solution becomes clear, 
after which it may be either decanted off from the precipitate 
which forms, or filtered : no farther change takes place in a 
solution thus treated, provided it be kept in a blackened or a 
green bottle, however long it may be preserved. In this pro- 
cess, the wire affords iron to saturate any free iodine present in 
the solution, or that may have been extricated by the formation 
of the peroxide of iron in the iodide ; and a perfectly neutral 
solution being thus obtained, by the immediate conversion of the 
newly formed iodide into the hydriodate of the protoxide, no 
subsequent change takes place so long as the solution is kept 
secluded from the light. The best proportions, according to Dr. 
Thomson, for forming the medicinal solution, are three grains 
of the dry solid iodide to each fluidram of distilled water. If the 



FERRI IODIDUM. 283 

water be not either distilled or filtered rain water, perfectly free 
from foreign ingredients, and particularly if it contain any earthy 
or saline carbonates, decomposition instantly takes place, iodine 
is extricated, and a carbonate of iron, which rapidly passes into 
the state of a peroxide of that metal, is precipitated. 

To protect the solution of iodide from decomposition, it has 
been advised to associate it with sugar, which appears to exert 
the same protective agency as it does on the protocarbonate of 
iron. With this view, the following preparation has been pro- 
posed by Mr. Wm. Procter, Junr.* Take of Iodine, 11 drams ; 
Iron filings, 4 drams ; Syrup, Uncrystallizable honey, or Un- 
crystallizable sugar, 4 ounces ; Distilled water, a sufficient 
quantity. Mix the iodine with eight fluid ounces of the dis- 
tilled water, and gradually add the iron filings, stirring con- 
stantly ; then apply a gentle heat until the solution shall have 
acquired a light green colour, or shall not give a blue colour to 
a solution of starch ; then add whichever of the three protecting 
saccharine substances may be chosen, continue the heat a short 
time, and filter. Lastly, wash the filter with as much distilled 
water as will make sixteen fluid ounces of solution of iodide of 
iron. 

The Liquor Ferri Iodidi or Solution of Iodide of Iron of 
the last edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the United States (1842), 
is essentially the same as this. The saccharine matter employed 
in it is prepared honey. The solution, thus obtained, is of a 
pale greenish colour. It has little or no sediment. 

M. Oberdorffer, of Hamburg,t gives the following form for 
the preparation of the sesqui-iodide of iron ; whose effects, and 
mode of administration, are the same as those of the iodide. It 
may be preserved for a long time without undergoing decompo- 
sition. Mix in a glass vessel half an ounce of iodine ; a dram 
and a half of iron filings ; and an ounce of tvater. When the 
reaction is completed, the mixture is to be slightly shaken, until 
it becomes of a clear green colour, which is due to the iodide of 
iron. It is then diluted with four ounces of water, filtered, and 
some water is passed through the filter. To the solution two 
drams of iodide are afterwards added, which are readily dis- 
solved. A deep reddish-brown liquid results, to which a suffi- 
cient quantity of water is added to make the weight of the whole 
ten ounces. Each dram contains about four grains and a half 
of iodine. 

When iodide of iron is carefully prepared, it is of an iron-gray 
colour, foliated texture, brittle, and exhibits a crystalline arrange- 
ment similar to metallic antimony, except that it is darker. Iu 

* American Journal of Pharmacy, for July, 1840, p. 13 ; and Ibid, for Jan. 
1841, p. 323. 
f Zeitsclirift fiir die gesammie Medicin. Juin, 1840, S. 



284 FERRI PR.EPARATA. 

the dry state, it is inodorous ; but when moist, it smells some- 
what of iodine : the taste, when dry, is simply styptic ; when 
moist, somewhat acrid, before it impresses the gustatory organs. 
At 350° of Fahrenheit it fuses ; and, at a higher temperature, 
is decomposed, — the iodine being volatilised, and the iron re- 
maining in the state of oxide. It dissolves in all proportions in 
water, — the changes supervening, which have been already 
indicated. It is decomposed by chlorine, the mineral acids, 
oxide of arsenic, meconic acid — consequently by opium and 
laudanum — gallic and tannic acids, the pure and carbonated 
alkalies, different metallic salts, and by the infusions of digitalis, 
belladonna, hyoscyamus, tobacco, amylaceous substances, &c. : 
such articles ought not, therefore, to be given in combination 
with it. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

From experiments made on his own person, Dr. Thomson 
states the following to be the physiological effects of iodide of 
iron. 

When taken in doses of from three to five grains, it makes no 
sensible impression on the stomach, although it sharpens the 
appetite, and improves the digestive function : it seems to stimu- 
late moderately the digestive canal through its entire length; for 
it opens the bowels ; and, whilst it produces the black colour of 
the alvine discharges characteristic of all the preparations of iron, 
it corrects their foetor. When it does not affect the bowels, it 
augments the action of the kidneys, increasing the flow of urine; 
and if the solution be taken two or three times a day, for several 
days in succession, the presence of both the iodine and the iron 
can be readily detected in the urine. The temperature of the 
skin is moderately elevated, and the insensible perspiration in- 
creased. On one occasion, having taken ten grains for a dose, it 
almost immediately caused an uneasy sensation at the epigas- 
trium, accompanied with nausea, that continued for several 
hours, and a slight degree of headach. These symptoms were 
relieved by a copious evacuation, which was perfectly black. 
Two hours after taking the medicine, a large quantity of urine 
was discharged ; which, on being tested, displayed the presence 
of both iodine and iron. 

The experiments on animals, made by Dr. Cogswell,* induced 
him to infer : — 1. That iodide of iron acts as a local stimulant, 
possessing the power of effecting peculiar disorganization. — 
2. That its action is more particularly directed to the track of the 
alimentary canal. 

* Essay on the Iodine, p. 132. Edinb. 1837. 



FERRI IODIDUM. 285 

When added to blood out of the body, it promotes its coagu- 

tinn * 



lation. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 



From the chemical composition of iodide of iron, Dr. Thomson 
considered it might be specially adapted for cases in which aug- 
mented activity of the capillary or intermediate system, with a 
tonic effect, might be indicated, and particularly in scrophulous 
affections, tabes mesenterica, chlorosis, incipient scirrhus, 
rickets, amenorrhoza, bronchocele, atonic dyspepsia, — indeed 
in all cases accompanied by debility. In such affections, he con- 
ceives the iodide will act more efficiently than any of the other 
preparations of iron. In secondary syphilis, it may be combined, 
he suggests, with iodide of potassium ; and in incipient cancer, 
its efficacy, is aided by the administration of arsenic at the same 
time. Dr. Thomson has found it serviceable in atonic gastric 
dyspepsia, when combined with bicarbonate of potassa, and 
taken at the moment of admixture, in the dose of from three to 
eight grains or more.t A great advantage it possesses is its 
ready solubility, owing to which it can enter the circulatory 
system with facility, and modify the condition of the fluids. In 
chronic scrophulous cases, it produces all the good effects of the 
preparations of iron, without any of the concomitant and sub- 
sequent symptoms that are so apt to supervene, especially in 
impressible individuals. Where the case is accompanied by 
vascular erethism, or fulness, it must be reduced before the iodide 
can be esteemed appropriate. In chlorosis, occurring in stru- 
mous habits, it has been found most serviceable. Its efficacy in 
cancer is elucidated by Dr. Thomson, by the details of a case of 
scirrhous mamma, which, after protracted and fruitless treat- 
ment by other agents — as by other preparations of iron com- 
bined with conium — ultimately yielded to a combination of 
iodide of iron and conium. 

Some cases are also detailed in which iodide of iron was very 
effective in removing old syphilitic affections, especially of the 
skin. M. IJaumes,J who employed the iodide with the most 
satisfactory results in old and obstinate syphilitic ulcers, especi- 
ally when the patient was feeble and scrophulous, gave it in the 
form of pills with extract of opium, — increasing the dose of the 

* Magendie, Lemons sur le Sang, &c. ; and translation in the Lancet, Jan. 
2G, 1839. 

f London Dispensatory, and Brande's Dictionary of Mat. Med. p. 252. 
Lond. 1839. See, also, Solon, in Diet, de Med. et de Chirurg. Pratiq. Art. 
lode; and Ashwell, in Guy's Hospital Reports, p. i. 128; and p. iii. p. 555. 

\ Medico-Chirurgical Rev. Oct. 1840. 



286 PERRI PRJEPARATA. 

iodide from two or three to twelve or twenty grains in the twenty- 
-four hours. Along with the cicatrisation of the sores, the im- 
provement of the general health was most remarkable. 

Prior to the publication of Thomson, Pierquin had given the 
iodide in cases of leucorrhoea and amenorrhcea ; and Eager* had 
recommended it in scrophula. Ricordt found the very best 
effects from its internal use in cases where tonics required to be 
combined with antisyphilitic remedies, especially where any 
scrophulous vice (lymphatisme) constituted a complication. He 
administered it, likewise, with great success, to remove the con- 
sequences of syphilis ; and found it advantageous in atonic 
ulcers of the legs and in spreading ulcers of the throat, which 
had been aggravated or had not yielded to mercury. The 
strength of M. Ricord's solution was half a dram of iodide to 
^viij. of water, given, we presume, in the twenty -four hours. 

M. RicordJ also uses it in the form of injection in cases of 
blennorrhosa. Wherever, indeed, tonic astringent injections are 
needed, the iodide, in his opinion, should occupy the first rank. 
Its use, he thinks, can only be contraindicated when there is 
much inflammation, or pain, in passing the urine, or when cys- 
titis exists. The strength of the injection should be three grains 
to the ounce of water. 

In consequence of its promoting the coagulation of the blood 
out of the body, Magendie§ prescribed it in the form of injection 
(3i. to tbij. of water) employed several times a day in a case of 
severe uterine hemorrhage. The hemorrhage ceased. 

Mr. B. Phillips || prefers the iodide of iron to any of the pre- 
parations of iodine. The minimum dose has been a grain twice 
a day ; the maximum three grains three times a day. In 232 
cases, it was only necessary to intermit its use for a few days in 
three cases. In one it excited ptyalism. About once a week 
he gives an aperient or cathartic. In cases of scrophulous ulcer- 
ation, as a consequence of abscess, or from other causes, he em- 
ploys, with the best effect, a lotion containing three or four grains 
of the iodide to an ounce of distilled water. Where parts are 
irritable, he usually recommends the ointment of iodine to be 
applied to the part on lint. 

The author has frequently given this remedy in public and 
private practice, and has considered it especially adapted for 
those cases in which there appears to be torpor in the system of 

* Dublin Journal of Med. Science, 1834 ; also, Cogswell on Iodine, p. 138, 
Edinb. 1837. 
f J. J. L. Rattier, in La Lancette Francaise, Fev. 4, 1837. 

I J. J. L. Rattier, Ibid. Fev. 16, 1837; see, also, Revue Medicale, Janvier, 
1838, and Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intelligencer, Sept. 15, 1838, p. 195. 

§ Op. cit. 

II Lond. Med. Gazette, Jan. 10, 1840. 



FERRI IODIDUM. 287 

nutrition, as in cases of asthenic dropsy, old visceral engorge- 
ments, and indeed of hypertrophy of any kind, accompanied by 
deficient action in the system of nutrition. In oligsemia, where 
there is paucity of red globules in the blood, and the fluid is alto- 
gether too thin, it would seem to be especially indicated, from 
its property, mentioned above, of promoting the coagulation of 
the blood, and therefore, of inspissating it. Hence, in all cases 
of scorbutic, hydropic and other dyscrasies, and in hemorrhages 
occurring in such pathological conditions of the system, the 
author has prescribed it largely, and with excellent effects. 
Tt appears to him to be the best remedy we possess wherever a 
entrophic and tonic are indicated. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The dose of iodide of iron, administered in the cases above 
referred to, was generally three or four grains two or three times 
a day. 

The following formulae have been recommended by Pier- 
quin : 

Vinum fcrri iodidi. 

Wine of iodide of iron. 

R. Vin. Bordegalens, Oj. 
Ferri iodidi, gss. M- 

Dose. — A tea-spoonful, morning and evening. 

Pierquin.* 

Tinctnra ferri iodidi. 

Tincture of iodide of iron. 

R. Ferri iodidi, 3ij. 
Alcoholis, 
Aquae, aa. f.3 ij . M. 

Dose. — A tea-spoonful, morning and evening. 

Pierquin. 

* Journal de Chimie Medicale, p. 310, Mai, 1831. 



288 FERRI PRJ2PARATA. 

Syrupns ferri iodidi. 
Syrup of iodide of iron. 

Various forms have been given for this preparation.* The 
following is the one admitted into the last edition of the Edin- 
burgh Pharmacopoeia : — Take of Iodine (dry), 200 grains ; Fine 
iron wire, recently cleaned, 100 grains ; White sugar, in powder, 
four ounces and a half; Distilled water, six fluid ounces. Boil 
the iodine, iron and water together in a glass matrass, at first 
gently,to avoid the expulsion of iodine vapour, afterwards briskly 
till about two fluid ounces remain. Filter this quickly while 
hot into a matrass containing the sugar ; dissolve the sugar with 
a gentle heat, and add distilled water to make up six fluid 
ounces. 

Twelve minims of this syrup contain one grain of the iodide. 
It ought to be nearly colourless or pale yellowish-green, and 
without sediment. Dr. Christison states, that it will always be 
defective in strength " when made with British iodine as now 
commonly met with in the market, unless allowance be made 
for the water, which it very generally contains in large pro- 
portion."! 

Troc hisci ferri iodidi. 
Lozenges of iodide of iron. 

R. Ferri iodidi, Jss. 
Croci pulv. 3U- 
Sacchar. sjiv. 
M. fiant Trochisci No. 120. 

Dose. — Six to ten, daily. Pierquin. 

* Frederking, Repertor fur die Pharmacie, 1839, and Amer. Journ. Med. 
Sciences, Feb. 1840, p. 449; Dnpasquier, Journ. de Pharm. Mars. 1841, 
p. 116, and Mars, 1842, p. 225 ; F. Boudet.Ibid. Sept. 1841, p. 335 ; M. Beral, 
Journ. de Chim. Med. and Amer Journ. of Pharmacy, April, 1841, p. 74 ; Dr. 
A. T. Thomson, Lond. Pharmac. Transactions, Aug. 1841 ; and Amer. Journ. 
of Pharmacy, April 1842, p. 60 ; and M. Leistner, Journ. de Pharmacie, Fev- 
rier, 1842, p. 122. 

t Dispensatory, p. 431. Edinb. 1842. 



FERRI IODIDUM. 289 

Solutio ferri iodidi. 

Solution of iodine of iron. 

(French, Eau d'Hydriodate de Fer.) 

R. Ferri iodidi, ^ss. 
Aquae, Oij. M. 

Added to enemata, lotions, and injections. 

R. Ferri iodidi, gss. ad gij. 
Aquae destillat. Oj. M. 

To be added to a general bath, in cases of leucorrhcea, ame- 
norrhea, &c. 

Injectio ferri iodidi. 

Injection of iodide of iron. 

R. Ferri iodid. gr. iij. 

Aquae destillat. f.gvi. M. 

The quantity may be increased to nine grains to the ounce of 
water, care being taken to avoid irritation. 

Used in gonorrhoea. Ricord.* 

Ungucntum ferri iodidi. 

Ointment of iodide of iron. 

R. Ferri iodidi, Jiss. 

Adipis, §j. M. ut fiat unguentum. 

A piece of the size of a hazelnut to be rubbed, morning and 
evening, on the inner part of the thigh, in cases of leucorrhcea 
and amenorrhcea. 

* A Practical Treatise on Venereal Diseases, translated by Drummond, 
Amer. Edit. p. 237, 219. Philad. 1813. 



25 



290 FERRI PR.&PARATA. 

LXXI. FERRI LACTAS. 

Synonymes. Lactate of Iron, Lactate of Protoxide of Iron. 

This preparation has been recommended by MM. Gelis and 
Conte, internes at La Charite, in Paris, and has been favourably 
reported upon by M. Bouillaud, in the name of a committee, con- 
sisting of MM. Bally, Fouquier, and Bouillaud.* 

MODE OF PREPARING. 

MM. Gelis and Conte prepare lactate of iron by treating piwe 
iron filings with lactic acid, diluted with water. M. Loura- 
dourt extracts lactic acid from whey, which he collects from the 
dairies in the neighbourhood of Paris, where much cheese is 
made. The whey, exposed a long time to fermentation under 
the influence of an elevated temperature, becomes charged with 
a large quantity of lactic acid. It is evaporated to one-third or 
one-fourth of its volume, decanted and filtered ; and is then 
saturated with milk of lime, which produces an abundant de- 
posit, chiefly of phosphate of lime. The filtered solution is pre- 
cipitated by oxalic acid, and again filtered, and then concen- 
trated to a syrupy consistence. It is now diluted with alcohol, 
which precipitates the lactine and the salts. The solution on 
being filtered, and the alcohol distilled off, yields pure lactic acid. 

Lactate of protoxide of iron is prepared by digesting in 
a sand-bath, at a low temperature, this acid, diluted with ivater, 
upon iron filings. At the end of six or seven hours of reaction, 
the liquid is boiled, filtered, and concentrated ; when, on cooling, 
it deposits crystals. These crystals, drained on a flannel, and 
washed with alcohol by displacement, should be dried rapidly, 
and be preserved from any contact with the air. 

The salt presents itself under the form of crystalline plates, 
which are very white, and but slightly alterable. It is but spa- 
ringly soluble in water; reddens litmus paper, and possesses the 
ferruginous taste in a tolerable degree. When dissolved in 
water, it attracts oxygen, and quickly becomes yellow. 

The sparing solubility of lactate of iron has permitted M. Lou- 

* Journal de Pharmacie, and Amer. Journal of Pharmacy, July, 1840, 
p. 121. See, also, M. Beral, Journ. de Chimie Medicale, and Amer. Journ. of 
Pharm. April, 1841, p. 74. 

| Bulletin General de Therapeutique, Mars, 1840. 



FERRI LACTAS. 291 

radour to simplify still more his process, by omitting the purifi- 
cation of lactic acid by alcohol, and treating it immediately by 
iron filings : the liquor, suitably evaporated, affords crystals of 
the lactates : the foreign salts, and the lactine remain in the 
mother waters, which are rejected. 

As the lactate would seem to be often adulterated with efflo- 
resced sulphate of iron, or the same precipitated with alcohol, 
or with starch or sugar of milk, M. Louradour recommends, 
that no lactate should be used except what is under the form of 
crystalline plates, which do not readily admit of fraud.* 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Lactate of iron has been used in cases in which protocarbo- 
nate of iron is employed, and chiefly in chlorosis. MM. Gelis 
and Conte are disposed to refer the beneficial agency of the pro- 
tocarbonate to its becoming lactate of iron in the stomach, by 
uniting with the lactic acid, which has been presumed to be one 
of the gastric acids. This idea led them to administer lactate of 
iron, ready formed. In chlorosis the remedy has been given by 
MM. Fouquier, Bally, Bean, Rayer, Nonat, Andral, Bouillaud, 
and others, who have cofiected a great number of cases, which 
show its success in that disease.t 

M. BouillaudJ made trial of the lactate in twenty-one cases, 
14 of which were treated at La Charite. One of the last, not 
being decidedly chlorotic, may be excluded. Of the thirteen, ten 
were females, and three males. Of the ten females, eight pre- 
sented well marked chlorosis ; two were rather anaemic. The 
dose of the lactate was carried to six, eight, ten, twelve, and 
fifteen lozenges, each containing about five centigrammes of the 
salt (gr. 3) in the twenty -four hours. The remedy was well 
borne ; and it always increased the appetite sensibly. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

MM. Gelis and Conte introduce freshly prepared lactate of 
iron into lozenges, in which the sugar prevents the superoxida- 
tion of the iron, and preserves the medicine, whilst, at the same 
time, a form is given, which allows of great facility of adminis- 

* Joum. de Pharmacie, and Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy, Oct. 1840, p. 230. 

f Bulletin General de Therapeutique, Mars, 1840 ; also, La Lancctte Fran- 
chise, London Lancet, Feb. 8, 1840, p. 707, and Dunglison's Amer. Med. In- 
telligencer, April 1, 1840, p. 13. 

\ Encyclopedic des Sciences Medicales, Mars, 1840, p. 226. Academie 
Royale de Mcdecine de Paris, Seance du 4 Fevrier, 1840. 



292 FERRI PRiEPARATA. 

tration. MM. Andral and Fouquier selden exceed twelve grains 
of the lactate in the twenty-four hours ; and M. Bouillaud never 
gives more than twenty. 

The following formulae have been proposed by Mr. Cap :* 

Trochisci ferri lactatis. 

Lozenges of lactate of iron. 

R. Ferri lactat. 3vij. gr. 72 (30 grammes.) 
Sacchar. ^xiss. (360 grammes.) 
Mucilag. acacise, q. s. 

Make into lozenges each weighing gr. x. (65 centigrammes) 
which will contain gr. % (5 centigrammes) of the salt. 

Syrupus ferri lactatis. 

Syrup of lactate of iron. 

R. Ferri lactat. %i. (4 grammes.) 

Aqua destillat. bullient. 5viss. (200 grammes.) 
Sacchar. alb. ^xiij. (400 grammes.) 

M. Cap considers the use of this syrup to be more convenient 
than that of the lozenges, because the ferruginous taste does not 
remain so long in the mouth. 

Pilulse ferri lactatis. 

Fills of lactate of iron. 

R. Ferri lactat. 

Althseae pulv. aa. gr. xvss. (1 gramme.) 
Mellis, q. s. ut fiant pil. xx. 

Chalybeate bread has been administered in one of the largest 
hospitals of Paris to chlorotic patients, and with the best effects. 
From four to five grains of the lactate of iron may be mixed 
with every three and a half ounces of bread, without giving it 
any unpleasant taste or injuring its quality.! 

* Journal de Pharmacie, and Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy, Oct. 1840, p. 228. 
f Provincial Med. and Surg. Journ. June, 1841, cited in Amer. Journ. of the 
Med. Sciences, Jan. 1842, p. 217. 



FERRI NITRAS. 293 



LXXII. FERRI NITRAS. 

Synonymks. Ferrum Nitratum, Nitrate of Iron. 

LIQUOR FERRI PERSESQUINITRATIS. 

SyNONyMES. Liquor seu SolutioNitratis Ferri, Liquor Ferri Nitrioi Oxydati, 
Solution of Persesquinitrate of Iron, Solution of Nitrate of Iron. 

MODE OF PREPARING. 

This preparation, which has been introduced within the last 
few years into practice, may be formed in the following manner : 

Take of small chips or pieces of Iron ivire, an ounce and a 
half; Nitric acid,thxce ounces by measure ; Water, twenty-seven 
ounces ; Muriatic acid, one dram. Put the iron into an earthen- 
ware vessel, and pour on the nitric acid, previously diluted with 
fifteen ounces of the water. Set the vessel aside till the whole of 
the acid has united with the iron, so as to form a persesquini- 
trate ; then decant the liquid from the portion of iron, which re- 
mains undissolved ; strain and filter. Add the muriatic acid with 
the remainder of the water, or with as much of that liquid as 
will increase the whole solution to thirty ounces. 

When the process is finished — which takes some hours — the 
liquid has a red colour, so dark, that when viewed by reflected 
light, it seems almost black. 

Three ounces of nitric acid of the usual strength (1.4) gene- 
rally dissolve an ounce of iron, so that when the process is com- 
pleted, a portion of the metal remains undissolved. The solution 
then consists entirely of persesquinitrate of iron ; and, if speedily 
decanted, it may be preserved in that state ; but if allowed to 
stand for a few hours longer on the iron, it will undergo a farther 
change, becoming gradually converted into pernitrate and pro- 
tonitrate of iron. The first of these is insoluble, and renders the 
liquid turbid ; and the latter, which remains dissolved, has not 
the medical properties, that render the persesquinitrate valuable. 
When the solution contains nothing but nitric acid and peroxide 
of iron, it slowly undergoes decomposition on standing, so that, at 
the end of a few weeks, the whole Liquid begins to become tur- 
bid. The addition of sonic muriatic acid prevents this decom- 
position, ami the quantity sufficient for this purpose is too small 
to alfect the medicinal powers of the persesquinitrate. The solu- 
tion, when properly prepared, is of a beautiful dark red colour, 
25* 



294 FERRI PR.2EPARATA. 

when viewed with transmitted light. Its taste is very astringent, 
and not at all caustic* 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

This preparation greatly resembles the solution of chloride of 
iron in its medicinal properties. Mr. Kerr considers, that to an 
astringent power it unites the property of diminishing the irrita- 
bility and tenderness of the mucous membranes with which it 
comes in contact. 

Kopp administered it with the greatest success in many cases 
of chronic diarrhoea, that had resisted every approved remedy. 
The faeces were blackened by it, as by the preparations of iron in 
general. He remarks, that it must be continued for some time. 
The dose he gave was ten drops several times a day in oatmeal 
gruel, and this was gradually raised to twenty and twenty-five 
drops. When the cure was accomplished, the remedy was gra- 
dually diminished, until it was left off altogether. 

Dr. Gravest speaks in equally high terms of the persesqui- 
nitrate in these cases ; and Dr. T. C. Adam of Lenawee County, 
Michigan, has recorded the remarkable assistance, which he 
has derived from its use in the treatment of several diseases, 
especially diarrhoea and other affections of the mucous mem- 
branes accompanied by discharges.% In chronic diarrhoea, de- 
pendingmainly on an excess in the sensibility of the organic nerves 
which supply the digestive tube, Dr. Adam rarely orders less than 
fifteen drops at the commencement, and after a few days' em- 
ployment of the remedy, he increases the quantity to twenty, 
twenty-five and thirty drops. 

In /eucorrhcea, occurring in such as are pale, exanguious, feeble 
and languid, the internal, conjoined with the external, use of 
the persesquinitrate has been found very advantageous. In these 
cases, Dr. Adam adds such a quantity of water as a diluent as 
will still leave in the vagina a gentle degree of heat or smarting. 

Dr. Adam recommends it, also, in cases of aphthous sores ; and 
he affirms that its application has afforded relief in toothach. 

It is, doubtless, a powerful astringent, but it is questionable 
whether it possess any advantage over the tincture of chloride of 
iron. 

* Mr. Kerr, in American Journal of the Medical Sciences, for May, 1832, 
cited from the Edinb. Med. and Surgical Journal. 

f Clinical Lectures, Dunglison's Amer. Med. Library Edition, p. 128. 
Phila. 1838. 

X American Journal of the Medical Sciences, May, 1839, p. 61. 



FERRI 0XIDTJM HYDRATUM. 295 



LXXIII. FERRI OX'IDUM HYDRA'TUM. 

Synontmes. Ferri Sesquioxidtim Hydratum, Ferrugo, Hydras Ferricus, 
Ferrum Oxydatum Hydratum, Hydro-oxide of Iron, Hydroxide of Iron, 
Hydrated Oxide of Iron, Hydrated Peroxide of Iron, Hydrated Tritoxide of 
Iron, Hydrated Sesquioxide of Iron, Oxyhydrate of Iron. 

German. Eisenoxydhydrat. 

Hydrated oxide of iron has been introduced into practice 
as an antidote to white arsenic. Dr. Bunsen, of Gottingen, had 
already made frequent experiments with it, which satisfied 
him, that it was an efficacious agent, when, along with Dr. 
Berthold,* he subjected it to fresh trials. The results of their 
investigations were published, and since then it has received 
due attention everywhere. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

The best mode of preparing it, according to Dr. Bunsen, is to 
take a solution of pure sulphate of iron, increase its dose of 
oxygen by treating it with nitric acid, and precipitate the oxide 
by adding pure ammonia in excess, washing the precipitate. 
In order not to deprive the precipitate of its water, and to di- 
minish its loose state of aggregation as little as possible, it is not 
filtered, but is put aside, for a few days, until the precipitate is 
wholly deposited, after which the supernatant fluid is poured 
off. It is then kept in well-stopped vessels. 

Riecket has added the formula for pharmaciens, which is 
recommended by Von Specz : — 

R. Vitrioli ferri puri crystallizali librarn ; teratur in pulv. subtiliss. et detur 
in vas. porcellan. aut murrhinum, impositum balneo arena?, dein adde acidi 
nitrici conccntrati ft,ss. ; terantur ope baculi vitrei usque dum massa resolvitur 
in pultem ; nunc, igne animato, massa; pultaceiccalidie affunde sensim terendo, 
sensim acid, nitric, concentrut. q. s. donee nullum amplius evolvatur gas nitro- 
sum. Massa tunc leni igne evaporetur ad siccitatem et solvatur demum in 
aq. destill. q. s. ; solution! filtrata; iustilletur ammonise purx q. s. donee preci- 
pitatio cesset ; stent nunc per horam unam alteramve et liquor limpidus a 
sedimento bruneo decantetur; massa; residua; fundum petenti adfunde aq. des- 

* Das Eisenoxydliydrat ein CJegengift dcr arsenigen Saure. Gb'tting. 
1834. 
f Die neucrn Arzneimittel, S. 227. Stuttgart, 1837. 



296 FERRI FRiEPARATA. 

tillat. jfjiij. et agitentur ; nunc filtra, et prrecipitatum in filtro aq. destill. q. s. 
edulcora donee aqua insipida defluat. Preecipitatum bene edulcoratum in 
umbra siccatum convertat. in pulv. subtilissim. qui servetur vase vitreo bene 
clause* 

Lassaigne advises it to be prepared as follows : — Take iron 
filings ; pour gradually upon them four times their weight of 
the nitric acid of commerce in small portions. Heat is thereby 
developed, and deutoxide of azote, which is transformed by the 
atmospheric air into nitrous acid vapours. When the evolution 
of gas has ceased, ten or twelve parts of water are added ; the 
mixture is then filtered, and ammonia added until the mixture 
begins to exhibit an alkaline reaction. The precipitate, thus 
formed, is the hydrated oxide of iron, which is collected on the 
filter, and washed with boiling ivater until it is tasteless, and 
ceases to exhibit any alkaline characters. 

The mode of preparation, recommended by Majeste, agrees 
with this, except that he boils one part of iron filings with four 
of nitric acid and four of muriatic acid. 

The following form has been advised by Dr. William R. 
Fisher,t who asserts that it was subjected to practice by Mr. 
Durand, an able pharmacien of Philadelphia, who obtained a 
perfect result, with a satisfactory economy of material. Take 
of Sulphuric acid (67° Baume), S oz. or 16 parts ; Iron wire, 8 
oz. or 16 parts ; Nitric acid (49° Baume), 5§ oz. or 11 parts; 
Water of ammonia, as much as is sufficient ; Water, a gallon and 
a half, or 384 parts. Mix the sulphuric acid with the water in 
a glass vessel. Add the iron, and, after the effervescence has 
ceased, filter. Add the nitric acid in divided portions, and apply 
heat so long as orange-coloured fumes are given off. To the 
heated solution, pour in the water of ammonia until a decided 
excess has been added ; then wash the precipitate by decantation, 
until the washings give no precipitate with nitrate of baryta. 

* "Take of pure crystallised sulphate of iron a pound : rub it into a subtle 
powder, and place it in a porcelain or glass vessel in a sand-bath ; then add 
half a pound of concentrated nitric acid ,- stir them with a glass rod until the 
mass is resolved into a soft paste; then — the fire being raised — pour gra- 
dually on the hot pultaceous mass concentrated nitric acid, until no more nitrous 
gas is evolved. Let the mass be evaporated by a gentle heat to dryness, and 
at last be dissolved in a sufficient quantity of distilled water. Into the filtered 
solution drop pure ammonia as long as any precipitate occurs ; let it now stand 
for an hour or two, and then pour off the limpid liquor from the brown sedi- 
ment. On the residuary mass, remaining at the bottom, pour three pounds of 
distilled water, and shake thern together: filter and wash the precipitate on the 
filter with distilled water, until the water is tasteless. The well-washed pre- 
cipitate dried in the shade forms a subtle powder, which may be kept in a well 
closed vessel." 

f Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy, vol. vi. No. 1, April, 1810. 



FERRI OXIDTJM HYDRATUM. 297 

The water is then to be drawn off until just enough remains 
to give the consistence of thick cream. It has been supposed 
that this preparation is not injured by keeping ; but some careful 
experiments by Mr. Wm. Procter, Junr.,* show, that even when 
kept under water its power of neutralizing arsenious acid gra- 
dually decreases ; that if kept in the form of a thick magma, it 
will retain its properties longer than when mixed with much 
water ; and that this decrease of power is probably owing to a 
change in the relative proportion of the oxide, and the water 
chemically combined with it, as well as to an alteration in its 
state of aggregation. 

Mr. Procter advises, that a ferruginous solution similar to that 
advised in the United States Pharmacopoeia should be kept in every 
shop as a source for obtaining the peroxide ; and that the solu- 
tion of ammonia should be added to it when the demand occurs, 
and the peroxide be separated in the manner advised in the 
Pharmacopoeia. In this mode the first doses may be given in 
ten or fifteen minutes. In the mean time, however, the moist 
peroxide prepared according to the Pharmacopoeia should be 
given, and if recently prepared it may be sufficient ; but for the 
reasons adduced by Mr. Procter it is advisable, that the recent 
oxide should always be administered, especially where the 
amount of poison taken has been large. t 

The form for its preparation admitted into the last edition of 
the Pharmacopoeia of the United States (1S42), is the following : 
Take of Sulphate of iron, §iv. ; Sulphuric acid, f.^iijss. ; Nitric 
acid, f.Jvj., or a sufficient quantity ; Solution of ammonia, a suf- 
ficient quantity ; Water, Oij. Dissolve the sulphate of iron in the 
water, and, having added the sulphuric acid, boil the solution ; 
then add the nitric acid in small portions, boiling the liquid for 
a minute or two after each addition, until the acid ceases to pro- 
duce a dark colour. Filter the liquid, allow it to cool, and add 
solution of ammonia in excess, stirring the mixture briskly. 
Wash the precipitate with water, until the washings cease to 
yield a precipitate with chloride of barium, and keep it in close 
bottles with water sufficient to cover it. J 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

If a solution of arsenious acid be decomposed by freshly preci- 
pitated oxyhydrate of iron suspended in water, traces of arsenic 
can no longer be detected in the filtered liquid, made acid and 
tested by a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. To throw 

* Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy, April, 1812, p. 37. 

f Procter, loc. citat. 

% Pharmacopoeia of the United States, p. 112. Philad. 1842. 



298 FERRI PR.EPARATA. 

down one part of arsenic, in this manner, requires a quantity of 
the oxyhydrate, which contains at least ten or twelve parts of 
oxide of iron. Yet, even where a smaller quantity is employed, 
the arsenious acid is almost wholly separated, as a stream of sul- 
phuretted hydrogen gas affords only very slight traces of sul- 
phuret of arsenic in the filtered and acidulated liquid. When the 
substances are previously heated, or the arsenious acid is exposed 
in small portions to the precipitating agent, the reaction is still 
slighter. Ifafewdropsofammoniabeaddedto water in which the 
oxyhydrate of iron is suspended, and the mixture be digested with 
finely powdered arsenious acid, an insoluble arsenite of iron is 
formed ; a circumstance, which would encourage the belief — even 
had it not been sanctioned by experience — that freshly prepared 
oxyhydrate of iron may serve as an antidote to arsenic : the union 
between it and arsenious acid forming — as has been seen — an 
insoluble compound, devoid of all poisonous influence on the 
economy, and only exciting gastric oppression, when given in 
large doses. 

Accurate microscopical investigation, in experiments on ani- 
mals that had taken arsenious acid in the solid form mixed with 
the oxyhydrate, exhibited to the discoverer of the antidote, that 
under the influence of animal heat and the peristaltic motion, 
it had become completely converted into arsenite of iron, and 
thus rendered innocuous. Such was the result of the observations 
of Boulet,* Orfila, Chevalier, Lassaigne, Soubeiran and Miquelt 
Nonat, Borelli and Demaria,i Lesueur, Boulay, fils,§ Monod,|| 
Von Specs, Mackenzie, IF D. Maclagan** and others.tt On 
the other hand, the experiments of Brett, J J Reginald Orton,§§ 
and Cramer, were unfavourable ; but Messrs. Bunsen and Ber- 
thold remark, that the experiments of those gentlemen could 
not be expected to be successful, as they were made with doses 
of arsenic of from two to nine grains ; and the stomach of the 
rabbit cannot retain more than from one-ninth to one-half the 
quantity of the antidote prepared according to their formula, 
which is necessary to neutralise that quantity of the poison.|||| 

Messrs. Bunsen and Berthold,from the results they have ob- 
tained, recommend the oxyhydrate as the chief antidote in all 

* Gazette Medicale de Paris, 1834. 

| Bullet. General de Therap. Dec. 1834. 

X Br. and For. Med. Rev. April, 1836, p. 594. 

§ Journal Hebdom. des Progres des Sciences Medic. Mars 14, 1835. 

|| Gazette Medicale, Aug. 22, 1835, and Annales d'Hygiene, &c. xiv. 134. 

IT London Lancet, April 4, 1840. 

** Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journal, July, 1840. 

ft See T. R. Beck, Amer. Journ. of the Medical Sciences, July, 1841, p. 90. 

XX L°n<L Med. Gaz. xv. 220. 

§§ Lancet, Nov. 8, 1834. 

1111 See, also, Dr. Maclagan, op. cit. 



FERRI OXIDUM HYDRATUM. 299 

cases of poisoning by arsenic ; and they advise emetics to be 
associated with it — along with the agents hitherto employed ; first, 
when the quantity of the poison taken has been considerable, and, 
therefore, a very large quantity of the antidote is demanded ; 
secondly, when, at the same time, substances containing tannic 
acid, as infusion of green tea, or sulphuretted hydrogen, deve- 
loped after the eating of eggs, may be suspected in the alimen- 
tary canal, — as these substances are closely related to the anti- 
dote, and may weaken its action ; and, thirdly, when, prior to 
taking the poison, the stomach has been overloaded with food, 
and is, therefore, capable of receiving only a small quantity of 
the antidote. 

But, whether vomiting may be excited or not, recourse must 
be had to the oxyhydrate as speedily as possible. Tepid mucila- 
ginous drinks may also be given to envelope the particles of 
arsenic that may exist in the compartments of the stomach. If 
the quantity of the poison taken be unknown, the antidote may 
be administered in a considerable dose, and if the patient should 
vomit, it may be exhibited afterwards in smaller quantity. But, 
if no vomiting should arise, it is recommended that he should 
continue to take the oxyhydrate until the arsenite of iron formed 
has had time to pass into the intestinal tube ; and even after this 
it may be persevered with in small doses for a time, as portions 
of arsenic may possibly remain behind unchanged. With the 
same view, the oxyhydrate may be thrown up in the way of 
clyster, whenever it is presumable, that the compound, formed by 
the oxyhydrate and the arsenic, has reached the lower portion of 
the bowels. To aid this, cathartics may be administered. Of 
these, castor oil, which would first suggest itself, might interfere, 
it has been conceived, with the operation of the antidote. 
Sulphate of magnesia, or any of the neutral salts, should have 
the preference. 

The antidote may be given suspended in water. Experience 
has shown Messrs. Bunsen and Berthold, that from ten to twenty 
parts of hydrated oxide of iron are more than sufficient to con- 
vert one part of arsenious acid into the basic salt of iron. 

As the quantity of arsenic in the stomach and intestines can 
scarcely ever be appreciated, it is considered by them advisable 
to allow the patient to take as large doses of the oxyhydrate as 
the stomach can tolerate ; and it is of essential importance that it 
should be taken as hot as it can bo borne. When the arsenious 
acid has been swallowed in the undissolved state — in the form 
of powder, or in larger or smaller pieces — it is necessary, in order 
to aid its solution,and to elicit n speedy union with the oxide of 
iron, to add a small quantity of pure ammonia to the antidote, 
until a slight alkaline reaction is evinced. As the ammonia does 



300 FERRI PRiEPARATA. 

not enter into the composition of the salt formed, and, consequently, 
only plays a secondary part, ten or twenty drops may be suffi- 
cient for the purpose. 

In the uncertainty as to the precise quantity of poison that has 
been taken, it has been recommended, that to an adult a table- 
spoonful, and to children a dessert-spoonful, should be given 
every five or ten minutes until relief from the urgent symptoms 
is obtained.* 

The various experiments that have been instituted on animals 
have shown the protective power of the hydrated oxide : it 
must be borne in mind, however, in all such experiments made 
on dogs, that they readily reject the poison by vomiting; but if 
the poison be retained in the stomach by a ligature passed round 
the oesophagus, it exerts its accustomed deleterious effects.! It 
would seem, also, that the same result occurs if the dose of the 
arsenic be too small to induce vomiting. The animal may then 
die of the poison.t 

It would appear, that cases have occurred, in which this anti- 
dote has saved the lives of some, who might have been destroyed 
without its agency. Buzorini§ had a case in which about thirty- 
five grains of arsenic had been swallowed, and where it was 
successful, although twenty-four hours had elapsed since the 
poison had been taken ; but this cannot be regarded as very satis- 
factory, inasmuch as the patient might probably have been saved 
by ordinary means. In another case, which was also treated 
by the antidote at a late period, marked alleviation of the suffer- 
ings was induced. Three cases are related by Majeste, two by 
Bineau,|| one by Benoist, and one by Geoffroy,1T of Paris, which 
were treated successfully in the same manner. The subject of the 
last was a hair-dresser, thirty-five years of age, who, in a parox- 
ysm of delirium tremens, swallowed a dram and a half of 
arsenic. Half an hour afterwards the antidote was given, sus- 
pended in water. He drank, in twelve hours, all the hydrated 
oxide produced by the decomposition of five ounces and five 
drams of the sulphate of iron. He had no violent colic ; and, 
twenty-four hours afterwards, experienced scarcely any unea- 
siness. 

* T. R. Beck, Amer. Journ. Med. Sciences, July, 1841, p. 95. 

f MM. Miquel and Soubeiran, Bullet. General de Therapeutique, Dec. 
1834. See on this subject, Dr. Joseph E. Muse, in Dunglison's Amer. Med. 
Intelligencer, for April 2, 1838. 

| Dr. Robert B. Hall, in Amer. Med. Intelligencer, for Sept. 15, 1838, 
p. 181. 

§ La Lancette Frangaise, Nov. 17, 1835. 

|| Journal des Connaissances Medico-Chirurgicales, Nov. 1835. 

Tf Journal de Med. et de Chirurg. Pratiq. Sept. 1835 ; and Brit, and For. Med. 
Rev. April, 1836, p. 572. 



FERRI OXIDUM HYDRATUM. 301 

A successful case has, also, been related by Mr. John Robson, 
house-surgeon to the Warrington Dispensary.* 

Dr. Richard H. Thomas, of Baltimore,t has published a case, 
in which it was believed that twenty grains of arsenic had been 
taken, which was relieved by the hydrated oxide, administered 
six hours after the poison was swallowed : there was no vomit- 
ing; but thirst, burning pain, and exquisite tenderness at the 
epigastrium existed, denoting endogastritis. Half a fluid ounce 
of hydrated oxide, which was in the wet state, and about the 
consistence of thick cream, was given in a tumbler of cool water, 
and the dose was directed to be repeated every ten or fifteen 
minutes in two ounces of water : eight ounces of the suspended 
oxide were taken in the twenty-four hours, after which the 
patient seemed free from disease. " The length of time — six 
hours" — says Dr. Thomas, " before any very severe symptoms 
supervened, and before the antidote was administered, at first 
caused me to think that the patient might have been deceived. 
Professor Von Specs, of Vienna, however, asserts, 'that a dram 
of arsenic, in powder, does not produce its deadly effects on the 
system in less than six or eight hours, while the same quantity, 
dissolved in warm water, destroys life in a much shorter time.' 
In the present instance, it was swallowed in a dry state, covered 
with sugar. The prompt relief, which followed the exhibition 
of the peroxide, is also confirmatory of the impression that the 
poison was realiy taken." 

A case has been published by Dr. Deville4 which was treated 
by this remedy, but as the patient vomited much, and the 
vomited matters were not examined, it is doubtful what was its 
agency. Between five and six hours elapsed before it could be 
procured. These remarks apply still more forcibly to a case re- 
ported by Dr. Chaloner,§ the subject of which took at eight o'clock, 
p.m., about half an ounce of arsenic, after which he vomited inces- 
santly, and did not take the hydrated oxide until three p.m., on 
the day following. He got well ; and the vomiting appeared to 
be relieved by it. 

More recently, several cases of the successful exhibition of the 
hydrated oxide have been published ; one by M. Ansroul, of 
Brussels ;|| seven by Puchelt,1l of Heidelberg ; one by Dr. Mac- 

* London Med. Gaz. Nov. 5, 183G; also, Amer. Journ. of the Med. Scien 
p. 222, May, 1837. 

t Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intel, for July 1G, 1838, p. 1G7. 

X Revue Mcdicale Fran?, et Ktrangcre, Sept. 1838; see, also, Br. and For. 
Med. Rev., and Johnson's Med-Chir. Rev. for April, 1839; and Amer. Journ. 
of the Medical Sciences, May, 1839, p. 243. 

§ Medical Examiner, Apl. 18, 1810, p. 251. 

|j Annales de la Socictc de Mcdecine de Gand, Avril, 1840, and Encyclo- 
graphie des Sciences Medicales, Mai, 1840, p. 494. 

Tf Heidelberg Medicinisch. Annal. 13. v.; and Encyclographiedes Sciences 
Medicales, Mai, 1840. 
26 



302 FERRI PRiEPARATA. 

donald ;* one by Dr. Chilton ;t and one by Dr. Murray .J of 
India. Drs. Smiley and Wallace,^ of Philadelphia, administered 
it to a family of eight, persons. Death followed in two cases. 
The antidote could not be retained by them, but was rejected 
immediately. In all the other cases, which recovered, the symp- 
toms were mitigated. 

As recommended in the Pharmacopoeia of the United States, 
the hydrated oxide should be kept in the shops, ready mixed 
with a definite quantity of water, in order that it maybe always 
at hand, so as to be administered without delay ; and the recom- 
mendation is good. Even if not to be trusted to alone, the 
evidence is quite sufficient to show, that it ought to be regarded 
as an important element in the treatment of every case in which 
arsenic has been taken. 

A commission of the Academie Royale de Medecine,|| com- 
posed of MM. Deville, Sandras, Nonat and Guibourt, recom- 
mend that four ounces of dry hydrated oxide of iron, the sub- 
carbonate of iron of the shops or sesquioxide of iron, should be 
suspended in twenty-four ounces of water, and a good glassful 
of the mixture be taken every ten minutes. After four ounces 
are consumed, fresh doses of the same mixture may be adminis- 
tered in like manner, and the patient should not be considered 
out of danger, until he has taken at least half an ounce of 
the peroxide for each grain of arsenious acid supposed to have 
remained on the stomach. 

Instead of the pure hydrated oxide, Von SpecsH employed 
substances in which the peroxide is known to exist in consider- 
able quantity, and which require no previous preparation, as 
rust of iron, and haematite, (red iron ore,) and, from his experi- 
ments, he is led to conclude, that although these substances do 
not prevent all the bad effects of arsenic on the system, they may 
— in the absence of the hydrated oxide — be employed as anti- 
dotes to that poison. The rust of iron has the advantage of 
being readily procurable. 

A case has been published by M. Batilliat,** which induced 
him to infer, that the hydrated oxide, dried in the air, is as effica- 
cious as that which is kept moist. It certainly would seem that 
the dry hydrated oxide — the Ferri Subcarbonas of the Phar- 
macopoeia of the United States (1842) — possesses the power to 

* New York Journal of Med. and Surg. iii. 205. 

t Ibid. p. 54. 

X Calcutta Med. Journ. Dec. 1837, and Amer. Journ. of the Med. Sciences, 
Feb. 1839, p. 503. 

\ Philad. Med. Examiner, iii. 679. 

y Revue Medicale, Mai et Juin, 1839. 

«[ Med. Jahrbucher des k. k. 6. St. B. xix. S. 621. Wien, 1836 ; and Ibid. B. 
xx. S. 149. Wien, 1836. See, also, Brit, and For. Med. Rev., July, 1837, 
p. 237 ; and Amer. Journ. Med. Sciences, Feb. 1838, p. 519. 

** Journal de Chimie Medicale, Janvier, 1840. 



FERRI PROTOCARBONAS. 303 

a considerable extent of neutralizing arsenious acid ;* and hence 
it ought to be used in the absence of the moist and fresh prepa- 
ration. The latter, however, as already remarked, may be ob- 
tained in a condition fit for use in 10 or 15 minutes, by using a 
solution of the persulphate of iron.t The experiments of M. 
Guibertt would seem to show, that the subcarbonate of iron, as 
ordinarily prepared, is about three times less active in neutraliz- 
ing arsenic than the dry hydrate prepared with ammonia, and 
six times less active than the same hydrate in the moist state. 

A case has been published by Dr. Spath, of Esslingen,§ in 
which the hydrated oxide was administered as an antidote to 
Scheele's green — Arseniate of Copper. A boy, three years 
of age, poisoned himself by licking a shell coveied with the 
poison. Half an hour afterwards, he became pale : violent 
vomiting soon came on, with diarrhoea, pain in the abdomen 
and burning thirst. The hydrated oxide was given in divided 
doses in warm water, and in half an hour the vomiting, diar- 
rhoea, colic and thirst had ceased, and the next day all the symp- 
toms had disappeared. 



LXXIV. FERRI PROTOCAR'BONAS. 

Synonymes. Ferri Carbonas, Protocarbonate of Iron, Carbonate of Iron. 
French. Protocarbonate de Fer. 
German. Salzsaures Eisen. 

Precipitated carbonate of iron contains but little carbonic acid, 
— the remainder being chiefly peroxide of iron. The name has 
indeed been changed — in the last London Pharmacopoeia — to 
" sesquioxide of iron." The protocarbonate readily absorbs 
oxygen, and, consequently, becomes converted into the sesqui- 
oxide ; and this is an objection commonly urged both against the 
MLstura Ferri Composita, and the Pilulse Ferri Composite, of 
the Pharmacopoeias. M. Vallet has discovered a method of 
obviating the objection, which consists in mixing the protocar- 
bonate with saccharine matter. 

* Dr. T. R. Beck, loc. citat. 

{ W. Procter, Junr., Anier. Journ. of Pharm. A pi. 1842, p. 37, and tbe Re- 
port of the Committee of the Collpge of Pharmacy on his paper, Ibid. p. 39. 

% Bullet. General de Th£rap. Dec. 1811, and Atner. Jour, of the Medical 
Sciences, Oct. 1812, p. 490. 

§ Journ. des Connaissances Medico-Chirur^. Mars, 1840. Archives de 
Medecine, Fcvrier, 1842; and Journal de Pharmacie, Mars, 1842, p. 269. 



304 FERRI PR^PARATA. 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

The following method is given by Mr. Procter* as a simplifi- 
cation of M. Vallet's process. Take of Protosulphate of iron 
(pure) 16 parts; Carbonate of soda (crystallized) 19 parts ; Pure 
honey, 9 parts ; Syrup, a sufficient quantity. Dissolve the sul- 
phate in half a gallon of water, at the temperature of 180° Fah- 
renheit, and the carbonate of soda in a like quantity ; to each of 
these solutions add four ounces of syrup ; and then mix them in 
ajar, which should afterwards be entirely filled with sweetened 
water, and the access of air be prevented. After the precipitate 
has subsided, decant the supernatant fluid, and then wash it with 
sweetened water, in the jar, until deprived of the adhering sul- 
phate of soda. After the carbonate is thus purified, throw the 
precipitate on a flannel cloth ; express forcibly, and mix it with 
the honey. The mixture should then be reduced by evaporation 
as rapidly and carefully as possible to a pilular consistence. 
The mass constitutes the " Ferruginous Pills" of M. Vallet. 

The following form, founded on the above, has been intro- 
duced into the Pharmacopoeia of the United States (1842). 

Piluloe ferri earbonatis. 
Pills of carbonate of iron. 

(ValkVs Ferruginous Pills.) 

Take of Sulphate of iron, 3"iv. ; Carbonate of soda, 3 v.; Clari- 
fied honey, siiss. ; Syrup, Boiling water, each a sufficient quan- 
tity. Dissolve the sulphate of iron and carbonate of soda, each, 
in a pint of the water, and to each solution add a fluid ounce of 
syrup ; then mix the two solutions in a bottle just large enough 
to contain them, close it accurately with a stopper, and set it by 
that the carbonate of iron may subside. Pour off the supernatant 
liquid, and, having washed the precipitate with warm water, 
sweetened with syrup in the proportion of a fluid ounce of the 
latter to a pint of the former, until the washings no longer have 
a saline taste, place it upon a flannel cloth, and express as much 
of the water as possible ; then immediately mix it with the honey. 
Lastly, heat the mixture by means of a water bath, until it at- 
tains a pilular consistence. 

A formula for the Ferri Carbonas Saccharatum is intro- 
duced into the last edition of the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia. On 

* The American Journal of Pharmacy. Jan. 1839, p. 272. 



FERRI FR0T0CARB0NAS. 305 

the continent of Europe the preparation is known under the 
name of Klauer's Ferrum Carbonicum Saccharatum* 

When prepared in this manner, the protocarbonate has a dark 
olive colour, strong ferruginous taste, contains about 30 per cent. 
of protoxide of iron, and if carefully prepared dissolves wholly 
and directly in acids. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The pills of M. Vallet have been prescribed in most of the 
diseases in which chalybeates in general are considered to be 
indicated ; and especially in chlorosis and amenorrhoza.\ It has 
been affirmed, that in cases in which the alterative effects of iron 
are proper, Vallet's preparation is superior to any other derived 
from that metal.J This can only be decided therapeutically; 
and as yet the trials have been too few. The author has exhibited 
it freely, but has not had reason to assign it any pre-eminence. 
It is certainly preferable to any other form of preparing the proto- 
carbonate for medical use, in consequence of its stability, but 
it has to be determined, whether the conversion into the sesqui- 
oxide renders it less efficacious as a medicine. Bland, as will 
be seen presently, says distinctly not. Fifteen grains of this 
preparation have been observed to occasion sickness ; and ten 
grains twice a day have produced headache and a sense of ful- 
ness in the head.§ The author has never witnessed such effects 
from its administration. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The mass of pilular consistence, described above, may be 
made up into pills, each weighing three grains, and containing 
somewhat less than a grain and a half of protocarbonate. 

They may be given to the extent of eight or ten pills daily, 
and be continued for weeks, if necessary. 



A medicine, which greatly resembles the Pilulse Ferri Com- 
posite of the Pharmacopoeias, and in which the iron, when it is 

* Pereira, Elements of Materia Medica, &c. 2d edit. p. 861, Lond. 1842. 

f Soubeiran, Rapport surles nouvelles pilules ferrugineuses de M. Vallet, in 
Bulletin General de Therapeatiqae, Mai, 1838, and injAmer. Journal of Pharni. 
x. 214. See also Berthernot, in Bull. General de Tberapeut. Juillet, 1839. 

% Wood and Bache's Dispensatory of tlie United States, 4th edit. p. 1170. 
Philad. 1839. 

§ Chrislison, Dispensatory, p. 42G. Edinb. 1842. 
26* 



306 FERRI PR^PARATA. 

newly prepared, is in the state of protocarbonate, has acquired 
great celebrity in the south of France, on account of its bene- 
ficial effects in chlorosis. It is given in the form of pill, and is 
called after its inventor, — Dr. Blaud, senior physician to the 
Hospital of Beaucaire, — " Blaud's Pills." 

Bland's formula for the preparation of his pills is as follows : — 
Take of Gum tragacanth, in powder, six grains ; Water, one 
dram. Macerate in a glass or porcelain mortar, until a thick 
mucilage is formed ; and if it be desired to prevent the formation 
of peroxide of iron, and to make the pills similar to those of 
Vallet, substitute — says M. Blaud — a dram of powdered 
sugar for the mucilage. Add, afterwards, of Sulphate of iron, 
in powder, half an ounce. Beat well, until the mixture is quite 
homogeneous ; and add Carbonate of potassa, half an ounce. 
Beat until the mass, which soon becomes of a yellowish-green 
colour, passes to a deep green, and assumes a soft consistence. 
Divide into 48 pills : which M. Blaud considers sufficient for the 
cure of a chlorotic patient.* 

M. Giubourt substitutes the bicarbonate for the simple carbo- 
nate or subcarbonate ; and he gives as reasons : First, The avoid- 
ance of a very alkaline salt, an excess of which may not prove 
beneficial to the stomach ; and Secondly, The formation of a 
double carbonate of potassa and iron, which is, of all the com- 
pounds of iron, the most fitted for absorption by the economy, 
as it is not only soluble, but not astringent. His form is the 
following : — Take of pure crystallized sulphate of iron, crystal- 
lized bicarbonate of potassa, each four drams ; powdered gum 
Arabic, one dram ; powdered marshmallows, half a dram. Mix 
and divide in ninety-six pills.t 

A proper objection made to these pills is their excessive size ; 
and farther it has been urged, that a chemical change quickly 
occurs in the mass ; the carbonate of the protoxide being, after 
a short time, converted into the sesquioxide of iron.J Blaud,§ 
however, maintains properly, that the virtues of medicines can- 
not be appreciated from chemical experiments : " It is," he re- 
marks, "to therapeutical trials, and not to chemical experiments 
that we must have recourse, to learn accurately the medical pro- 
perties of any agent. What signifies it to practitioners that my 
pills contain little or no protoxide of iron, provided that they 
cure chlorosis ?" To prove that they do possess this power, 
Blaud adduces a long list of cases in which a cure was obtained 
in three or four weeks. 

* Revue Medicale, Mars, 1832, Dec. 1838. 

f Pharmacopee Raisonnee, i. 383 ; and Amer. Journal of Pharmacy, April, 
1839, p. 61. 
X Soubeiran, Bull. General de Therap. Mai, 1838. 
§ Ibid. 



FERRI PR0T0CARB0NAS. 307 

To prevent, however, the change to which the chemists ob- 
ject, but which Blaud appears rather to regard with favour, M. 
Adornehas suggested the addition of sugar and the pulvis altheese, 
according to the following form : — Take of Sulphate of iron, 
recently prepared, according to the method of Bonsdorff,* which 
is a pure sulphate ; Carbonate of potassa, or what is better, Car- 
bonate of soda ; Powdered root of the marshmallow and Sugar, 
each, half an ounce ; Mucilage of gum Arabic, as much as is suffi- 
cient. Make into ninety-six pills, which must be covered with 
a very fine layer of gum and sugar, aromatized with essential 
oil, to correct the disagreeable odour.f 

With similar views, M. Simonin, of Nancy, has proposed the 
following formula for the preparation of Blaud's pills, which he 
considers has the double merit of prompt and easy execution, 
and of furnishing pills which keep without undergoing alteration. 
Take of Protosulphate of iron and Pure carbonate of potassa, 
each equal parts. Reduce them separately to a fine powder ; mix 
accurately, by triturating them together until they begin to 
liquefy ; then add enough clarified honey to give the mixture 
complete liquidity : afterwards heat the mass over a very gentle 
fire, until it has acquired the pilular consistence. The process 
was repeated by M. Felix BoudetJ by employing pure crystal- 
lized sulphate of iron, 100 grammes ;§ pure carbonate of potassa, 
100 grammes ; white honey, 50 grammes ; from which he ob- 
tained 130 grammes of a deep green mass, very ductile and 
easily rolled into pills, as M. Simonin had said. The addition 
of the honey prevents the farther oxidation of the iron. 

M. Blaud commences with his " antichlorotic pills," in the 
dose of one a day ; and, in the course of a few days, gives two, 
and afterwards three, daily. 

Mr. Donovan || recommends the protocarbonate of iron to be 
administered in the following manner, for extemporaneous use : 
— Blue sulphate of iron, in fine powder, half an ounce ; Calcined 
Magnesia, two scruples ; Water, six ounces; Tincture of quas- 
sia, two drams. Divide into six draughts, one to be given night 
and morning. 

Mr. Carmichael, of Dublin,1F has recommended the following 
mode of exhibiting the precipitated carbonate : — Take onedram 
of Bicarbonate of soda ; dissolved in four ounces of Spri ng water, 

* See Dr. Bache, in Wood and Bache's Dispensatory, 4th edit. p. 90G. 
Phi lad. 1839. 

f Bulletin Medical du Midi, Janvier, 1839; Encyclographie des Sciences 
Medicates, Mars, 1839. 

I Journal de Pharmacie, Mars, 1841, p. 153. 

§ A gramme is gr. 15.444 Troy. 

|| Dublin Journal of Medical Science, Mar. 1810, p. 159. 

If Dublin Medical Press, March 4, 1840. 



308 PERRI PR-EPARATA. 

and add a drachm of Tincture of chloride of iron. This draught 
to be taken three times a day during effervescence. Mr. Car- 
michael remarks, that although the quantity of carbonate of iron 
formed is not considerable, yet it is in such a state of minute sub- 
division, and combined with a solution of chloride of sodium 
equally minute, — " the saline most congenial to the system of red- 
blooded animals, as it renders the hematosine active and vivify- 
ing," that he always found it answer the object of a chalybeate 
thus given much better than the large doses of from one to two 
drachms of the subcarbonate. If ulceration existed, he found it 
very generally improved ; and he has seen many cases of lupus 
attacking the face cured by its joint internal and external use. 
He formerly thought the phosphate of iron possessed of superior 
advantages to the carbonate administered internally ; but now 
thinks the carbonate given during precipitation answers every 
purpose of a chalybeate, without causing any derangement of 
stomach. 



LXXV. FERRI SUBCAR'BONAS. 

Synontmes. F. Carbonas, F. Carbonas Praecipitatus, Ferrum Carbonatum 
Praecipitatum, Ferrum Carbonicum Oxydulatum,Ox3'dum Ferri Fuscum, F. 
Oxidum Rubrum, Deuto-carbonas Ferri Fuscus, Crocus Martis Aperiens, 
Ferri Sesquioxydum, Subcarbonate of Iron, Sesquioxideof Iron, Peroxide of 
Iron. 

French. Souscarbonate de Fer, Safran de Mars Aperitif. 

German. Kohlensaure Eisenoxydul. 

This preparation, which is officinal in the British, United 
States and other Pharmacopoeias, is formed by adding a solution 
of carbonate of soda to a solution of sulphate of iron: the pre- 
cipitate is the subcarbonate, or, as — it is now called in the Lon- 
don Pharmacopoeia — the sesquioxide of iron, which must be 
washed with water, and dried. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Subcarbonate of iron possesses the properties of the chaly- 
beates in general, and has been highly recommended as a tonic, 
wherever such remedies are indicated. It is introduced here, 
mainly on account of the favour which it has received, of late 
years, as a remedy for neuralgia. Thirty years ago, its use 
was strongly advised in cancer and carcinomatous ulcerations 

f Dublin Medical Press, Mar. 4, 1840. 



FERRI SUBCARBONAS. 309 

of the uterus, by Mr. Carmichael;* and, subsequently, by Rust, 
Volker, and Kopp ; as well as in a case of lupus of the ala nasi, 
by Key :f but, in similar cases, it proved unsuccessful in the 
hands of Clarke, El. Von Siebold, Meissner, Richter,and others.J 
In chronic nervous diseases, of a spasmodic nature, and espe- 
cially in tic douloureux of the face, it was first highly extolled 
by Mr. Benjamin Hutchinson, about twenty years ago,§ who 
published several cases of cure effected by its agency. Soon 
afterwards, cases, equally fortunate in their termination, were 
published by various observers, by Drs. A. T. Thomson,|| Stewart 
Crawford,lf R. Macleod,** Mr. J. E. Beale,tt and many others, 
and its efficacy is now almost universally admitted. Dr. Row- 
landlj has often witnessed the most happy results from its ex- 
hibition, even after various powerful medicines had been tried 
in vain. 

Dr. Elliotson§§ published several cases, in which the remedy, 
in large doses, had been efficacious ; and he remarks, that true 
chronic neuralgia, not arising from cold, and coming on in a vio- 
lent, stabbing, plunging form, aggravated by the least shake of 
the patient, and by touching the surface, is best treated by sub- 
carbonate of iron. He observes, however, in a recent publica- 
tion, mi that he does not recollect that he ever cured the disease, 
but in almost every case improved it, and caused it to disappear 
for a time. In one of the severest cases of neuralgia under the 
form oi hemi crania, which the author ever witnessed, and which 
had rendered the patient's life miserable for years, the subcarbo- 
nate of iron, in large doses, proved entirely successful. The patient 
had been bled repeatedly ; and when the author saw her, she 
was under the most favourable circumstances for the exhibition, 
of the remedy, — with the surface pale and cool ; the pulse small ; 
complaining much of debility, and yet suffering under the most 
intense headach, which the least light and noise rendered almost 
intolerable ; yet, after she had persevered in the use of the remedy 



* An Essay on the Effects of the Carbonate and other Preparations of Iron 
upon Cancer. 2d edit. Dublin, 1809. 

■\ Lancet, xiv. 92. 

X Osann,in Encyclopad. Worterb. der Medicinisch. Wissenschaft. x. 424. 
Berlin, 1834. 

§ Cases of Tic Douloureux successfully treated. Lond. 1820. 

|| Medical and Physical Journal, Feb. 1823. 

T Ibid. 

** Ibid. June 1823. 

tf Ibid. Sept. 1823. 

XX Treatise on Neuralgia, by Richard Rowland, M.D., p. 84. Lond. 1838; 
and the reprint in the author's American Medical Library. 
§§ Medico-Chirnrgical Transactions, xv. 161. 

Illl Principles and Practice of Medicine, &c. by John Elliolson, M.D. ; with 
Notes, &c. by Nathaniel Rogers, M.D. p. 507. Lond. 1839. 



310 FERRI PR.EPARATA. 

for a month, in large doses, the symptoms gradually disappeared, 
and she has since remained entirely well. It need scarcely be 
said, that where plethora exists, or febrile irritation supervenes, 
it must be removed ; the subcarbonate rarely, however, disagrees 
with the stomach, and where it does, the inconveniences are re- 
moved by the addition of an aromatic, or the administration of 
a cathartic. 

Subcarbonate of iron, in large doses, has, likewise, been found 
a valuable agent in a kindred condition of the nervous system 
— chorea. Dr. Elliotson* affirms, that he has had — he should 
suppose — forty cases, in succession, all cured by it ; but perse- 
verance in its use is demanded, the affection generally disappear- 
ing when the remedy has been given about six weeks or two 
months ; but in some obstinate cases it has been necessary to 
continue it for twelve weeks. 

Like other tonics, it has been prescribed in intermittent 's, and 
not long ago, M. Gimon,t physician at Thouars, published two 
cases, elucidative of the effects of large doses in long protracted 
intermit tents, complicated with ascites and enlargement of the 
spleen. One of these occurred in a boy, nine years old, and the 
other in a young man of twenty-one. Both had taken the sul- 
phate of quinia in large doses, but ineffectually. To the former, he 
prescribed twelve grains of the subcarbonate in the twenty-four 
hours, augmenting the dose by six grains daily. The treatment 
was commenced in the latter end of July, 1835, and the quantity 
taken in the day was pushed progressively to one ounce. In six 
months the traces of ascites and splenocele had disappeared, and 
the cure was complete. The medicine was discontinued by gra- 
dually diminishing the dose. In the second case, the same dose 
was prescribed, in the first instance ; and it was ultimately car- 
ried to six drams, with complete success. 

More recently still, Dr. SteymanJ has recommended the sub- 
carbonate in the treatment of hooping-cough, in the dose of half 
a grain at the least, to be taken every three hours with sugar, 
and increased to as many grains as, and more than, the number 
of years of the child's age. It should not, he advises, be admi- 
nistered in the first stage of the disease ; and, in all cases, should 
be preceded by an emetic. 

The great efficacy of this preparation — as of every tonic — in 
diseases that are paroxysmal, appears to consist in the new im- 
pression, which it makes upon the nerves of the stomach, and, 
through them, upon those of the whole system ; but to effect the 



* Op. citat. p. 515. 

f Journal des Connoissances Medico-Chirugicales, Mai, 1837. 

X Medicin. Correspondenz-Blatt, and Gazette Medicale de Paris, June 20, 

1838. 



FERRI SUBCARBONAS. 311 

revulsion to the requisite extent, it appears to be necessary — as 
in the cases of artemisia and indigo in epilepsy — to keep up the 
effect of the remedy by gradually increasing the dose. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The dose of subcarbonate of iron, in cases of neuralgia and 
chorea, should be large. Mr. Hutchinson prescribed it in the 
quantity of £ss. to 5ij-, twice a day ; but where it fails to remove 
the complaint in those doses, Dr. Elliotson recommends, that it 
should be increased gradually to one or two ounces. The best 
vehicle for it is melasses. The following formulae have been re- 
commended :* 



Pulvis ferri subcarbonatis. 

Powder of subcarbonate of iron. 

R. Ferri subcarb. gr. x. 
Pulv. aromat. gr. v. 
M. Fiat pulvis mane et meridie sumendus. 

Boli ferri subcarbonatis. 

Boluses of subcarbonate of iron. 

R. Ferri subcarb. gr. x. 
Valerianae pulv. Jss. 
Syrup, zingib. q. s. 
Fiat bolus. 

P ilulae ferri subcarbonatis. 

Pills of subcarbonate of iron. 

R Ferri subcarb. 

Extract, anlhemid. aa. ^ss. 
Misce et divide in pilulas xij. quarumsumat binas ter quotidie. 

R. Ferri subcarb. ^j. 

Pilul. aloes cum myrrha, 39s. 
Misce et divide in pilulas xviij. : duaj bis terve indies sumendae. 

* Brande, Dictionary of the Materia Medica, p. 218. Lond. 1839. 



312 FILIX MAS. 

Electuarinm ferri subc arbonatis. 

Electuary of subcarbonate of iron. 

R. Ferri subcarb. 

Confect. aurant. aa. 5J. 
Syrupi zingib. q. s. 
ut fiat electuarium cujus suraatur cochleare minimum bis vel ter die. 



LXXVI. FILIX MAS. 

Synonymes. Nephrodium Filix Mas, Aspidium Filix Mas, Athyrium Filix 

Mas, Polypodium Filix Mas, Filix, Male Fern, Male Shield Fern. 
French. Fougere Male. 
German. Farrenkraut, Johanniswurze!. 

The rhizome of male fern, which is indigenous in this country, 
and in the secondary list of the Pharmacopoeia of the United 
States, has long been celebrated — since Dioscorides indeed — 
as an anthelmintic ; and especially for the destruction of taenia* 
For these properties, it has been introduced into most of the 
Phamacopceias. It was the basis of Madame Nouffer's cele- 
brated remedy for taenia, which was purchased by Louis XVI. 
in 1775, for 18,000 francs. It is noticed here, on account of the 
proposition of Peschier,t of Geneva, to administer the ethereal 
extract, which has since been carried into effect, and apparently 
with the best results. It appears to possess the advantage of 
being by no means unpleasant to the taste, and to be accom- 
panied by none of the disagreeable effects, that are associated 
with the action of most of the other vermifuges. 

To prepare the extract, the root is cut small, and digested for 
ten or twelve days, in the cold, in a sufficient quantity of sulphu- 
ric ether, — the tincture is then pressed, concentrated by distilla- 
tion, and the ether thereby fully removed. From a pound of 
the root, about eighteen drams of a brownish-green, thick extract 
are obtained, which possesses the repulsive odour of the plant, 
and has an acrid taste. 

In Germany, the extract is generally prepared according to the 
formula of the Prussian Pharmacopoeia, which is as follows — 

* Merat and De Lens, Diet, de Mat. Med. Art. Polypodium. 
t Nouvelle Bibliotheque Medicale, Sept. 1828, p. 151, and Biblioth. Univer. 
xxxi. 324, 1826. 



FILIX MAS. 313 

Take an ounce of the powdered root, and pour thereon eight 
ounces of the sulphuric ether of commerce ; close the vessel, 
shaking it occasionally, and let it stand until the fluid has acquired 
a yellowish colour ; then separate the fluid as before described ; 
distil off the sulphuric ether until only a third remains, and 
evaporate the remainder, in a water bath, until a thin brownish- 
yellow coloured extract remains. 

This extract contains not only the volatile oil of the fern, but 
also a fixed oil, tannic acid, acetic and gallic acids, a muco-sac- 
charine matter, green and red colouring matter, and a semi-resi- 
nous substance. By some it is called oleum filicis maris. The 
active constituents of the fern are highly concentrated in it ; and 
as the result of numerous trials, it was found, that from eighteen 
to twenty grains, given at night, and the same quantity in the 
morning, fasting, destroyed taenia ; so that on the administration 
of a cathartic, the parasite was discharged — often in the form 
of a ball. Not unfrequently, indeed, it was voided before the 
cathartic was given. 

In Germany, this new preparation has been chiefly recom- 
mended by Hufeland, who maintained, that in rapidity, certainty 
and gentleness of action, it exceeds all known means, and many 
other physicians have testified to the accuracy of this opinion. 
Radius,* who frequently prescribed it, says he never gave it 
without bringing away large pieces of the worm, but frequently 
the head remained behind.t 

Peschier had found it to be successful in 150 cases when he 
wrote ; X Ullersberger had used it in 60 cases, and a medical friend 
of his in 200 cases, with invariable success. It is affirmed to 
have proved more successful in cases of Bothriocephalus latus 
than of Taenia solium ; and a part of the discrepancy of results 
amongst observers has been ascribed to this circumstance. For 
example, it has not been found as effective in the treatment of 
taenia at Paris, and the taenia most common there is the Taenia 
solium.^ 

Buchner|| thought, that the extract might be prepared with 
alcohol, but many physicians have objected to this menstruum, — 
that it does not dissolve the fixed oil. 

The male fern is preferred by M. RouzeH" to the bark of pome- 
granate root in the treatment of taenia. 

* Auserlesene Heilformeln, u. s. w. Leipz. 1836. 

f See, also, Ebers, in Hufeland and Osann's Journal, Ixvi. St. 1. S. 43, and 
Gazette de Santc, Sept. 25, 1828. 

% Merat. and De Lens, loc. cit. 

§ Christison, Dispensatory, p. 451. Edinb. 1842. 

|| Repertorium fiir Pharmacie, xxiii. 433, xxvii. 337, and Funk, in Medicin. 
Zeitung, Mai 17, 1837, S. 102. 

\ Revue Medicale, Oct. 1840. See, also, M. Wawruch, Oesterreicb. Med. 
27 



314 FUCUS AMTLACEUS. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 



The extract is commonly given in the form of pill : an emul- 
sion does not answer, because the active constituents are apt to 
be enveloped and masked in this form. In Geneva, it is now 
frequently united with castor oil, which renders it unnecessary 
to give a cathartic after it. For the cathartic, when needed, they 
advise, in Bern, infusion of senna with epsom salts, manna, and 
aniseed.* To children, it may be given in syrup. 

An ethereal tincture of the buds (one part of the buds to 
eight of ether) has been used with advantage as an anthel- 
mintic^ and a decoction (one ounce of the rhizoma to a pint 
of water) has been occasionally prescribed. 

Mel. filicis maris. 

Honey of the male fern. 

R. Ext. sether. filicis maris, 5ss. 
Mel. rosae, ^ss. M. 

Half of this to be taken on going to bed : the other half early 
in the morning fasting. 



LXXVII. FUCUS AMYLACEUS. 

Synontmes. Ceylon Moss, Marine Moss. 

The attention of physicians has been directed to this vegeta- 
ble by Dr. 0'Shaughnessy,of Calcutta.^ Like Chondrus (p. 160), 
it belongs to the Natural Order Algae, and was first introduced, 
some years ago, into India and England. As met with in com- 
merce, it is white, filiform, and fibrous, and has the usual odour 
of seaweeds. When analysed by Dr. O'Shaughnessy, it was 
found to be composed as follows : — Of vegetable jelly, 54.50 ; 

Jahrbuch, cited in Encycl.des Sciences Med. Nov. 1841, p. 264; andM.Dau- 
merie, Archives de la Med. Beige, Sept. 1841, p. 5. 

• Hufeland und Osann's Journal, Ixiv. St. 1. S. 133. 

| London Lancet, for 1834-5, ii. 597. 

% Medico-Botan. Transactions, vol. i. pt. iv» p. 184. 



FUCUS AMYLACEUS. 315 

true starch, 15; wax, a trace; ligneous fibre, 18; gum, 4; 
sulphate of soda, and chloride of sodium, 6.50 ; sulphate and 
phosphate of lime, 1 ; iron, a trace ; loss, 1 : — Total, 100. When 
boiled in water, a liquid results, which gelatinizes on cooling. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The medical properties of fucus vesiculosus are similar to 
those of chondrus. The decoction is an agreeable, light, nutri- 
tious article of food. According to Dr. 0'Shaughnessy,its nutri- 
tive qualities are best obtained in the following manner : — Put 
into a clean stewpan a tablespoonful of prepared marine moss, 
add to it a pint and a half of hot or cold water, and boil gradually 
for twenty minutes ; then take a little in a spoon, and let it cool 
for a minute or two to see if the liquid is sufficiently boiled to 
congeal firmly ; if not, let it boil until it is ; then strain it through 
a cloth into another stewpan while it is warm, so as to draw all 
the liquid from the sediment produced by the moss. The sedi- 
ment must be well squeezed. Add to the liquid a tablespoonful 
of fine loaf sugar, half a tablespoonful of lemon juice, a table- 
spoonful of honey, or not, at the option of the maker ; add a 
small piece of lemon peel, and a very small piece of cinnamon : 
boil the whole gradually for ten minutes, and pass it once or 
twice through a piece of flannel into a basin or tumbler, and in 
ten minutes it will be fit for use. Should it be required to be 
very clear and transparent — which is not considered necessary 
for an invalid, as by clarifying it partly loses its strength — add 
the white of an egg, well beaten into froth, before the second 
boiling; taking care, that after the second boiling it rests for 
some minutes by the fireside, with some hot charcoal on the 
cover of the stewpan so as to render it perfectly clear ; other- 
wise, by adding the whole of an egg, it will have a milky-white 
appearance, which is not so pleasing to the eye, although its 
quality may be the same. When clear, and of a lemon colour, 
it may be passed two or three times through a flannel bag. It 
may then be suffered to cool, or be taken in a liquid state, if pre- 
ferred by the patient. 

The jelly is as good for the table as for the sick chamber. Blanc- 
manger and Italian cream can be made with it without isinglass ; 
but in such case, the jelly must be made much stronger before 
it is mixed ; and at all times it must be blended whilst warm. 
The quantity it takes for a mould of either is two tablespoonfuls 
of moss to a quart of water, which must be reduced to half a 
pint. 

Ceylon moss has the advantage Over isinglass and the other 
mosses, that it will stand firm and good for twenty-four hours 



316 FULIGO. 

in the hottest days of India ; whilst neither isinglass nor any 
other jelly will stand firm for half an hour, even with the 
aid of ice. It also possesses the advantage, that a delicious jelly 
can be made from it in about fifteen or twenty minutes. 

The Ceylon moss has been pronounced by all the medical 
faculty of Calcutta to be unequalled for its delicate and nutritious 
qualities, and it has been especially and highly recommended 
for the use of the sick. When all other nourishment has failed, 
this has proved successful ; and Dr. O'Shaughnessy says he has 
no doubt that when the article is better known by the faculty in 
England, it will be much more appreciated, and receive the 
same patronage and support, which it has done from the whole 
of the faculty in India for the last fifteen or sixteen years.* 



LXXVIII. FULI'GO. 

Synonymes. Fuligo Splendens, F. Ligni, Soot, Wood soot. 

French. Suie. 

German. Glanzruss, Spiegelruss, Kaminruss, Ofenruss, Russ. 

The discovery of creasote, and its extensive application to the 
treatment of disease, gave occasion to the resuscitation of this 
article — much employed by the ancients, but subsequently fallen 
into oblivion. 

The older physicians frequently used soot as an exciting dia- 
phoretic agent in cachexias of every kind, in chronic rheumatism, 
cutaneous affections, and especially in the evil results of their 
sudden repercussion ; in glandular indurations, rickets, exos- 
toses, &c. It has also been employed as a domestic remedy, in 
colic, and in the simple and dysenteric diarrhoea, and cholera of 
children. Several modern recommendations — as by Schiitte and 
Weisenberg — remained unheeded until the attention of physi- 
cians was recently drawn to it, especially by Blaud.f He is of 
opinion, that the costly — and by no means easily prepared — 
creasote may be wholly replaced by soot. Both are products of 
the dry distillation of organic substances ; their odours are ana- 
logous, and as soot is much cheaper and more easily obtained, it 
deserves, he thinks, to be tried more extensively in therapeutics. 

* Braithwaite's Retrospect of Pract. Med. and Surg. No. 1, Jan. to June, 
1840,3d edit. p. 70. Loud. 1842; and Drs. Sigmond and Farre on the Ceylon 
Moss, Lond. 1840. 

f Revue Medicale, Juin, 1834, et Janvier, 1835, and Dr. E. Grafe, in Grafe 
und Walther's Journal,. xxiii. 310. Berlin, 1835. 



FULIGO. 317 

The soot has a nauseously empyreumatic, more or less bitter, and 
acrid, saline taste. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Blaud* has exhibited soot in different diseases, especially in 
the form of ointment, or in decoction, with excellent and rapid 
effects, in herpes, itch, tinea, gutta rosacea, and pruritus vulvas; 
and he asserts, that he even healed a cancer of the breast by fre- 
quent ablution with a tepid decoction of it, and an ointment com- 
posed of equal parts of lard and soot with one-eighth part of the 
extract of belladonna ; but the same applications were of no 
benefit in the case of cancer of the nose, and in one of cancer of 
the uterus. He also cured a scabby eruption of the mucous 
■membrane of the nose by an ointment of soot. In diphtheritis, 
he used, in two cases, a decoction, as a mouth-wash, with the 
best effects. 

In confirmation of Blaud's remarks, Voisin asserts, that he 
cured a case of cancer of the face by soot ointment. 

Dr. J. R. Marinusf has found it very efficacious in chronic 
eruptions (dartres), and in tinea ; and his observations have been 
confirmed by MM. NobeleJ and Lemontagnier.§ M. Nobele's 
conclusions are, — 1. That soot cannot be applied with any ex- 
pectation of success, until the crusts have been removed, and the 
irritation of the parts has been diminished by means of emol- 
lient applications. 2. That the gray layer, left by the soot on the 
skin, whether it be used in the form of ointment or of decoction, 
should be removed by a weak wash of soap and water. 3. That 
in children an ointment, made with equal parts of soot and 
lard, is frequently too irritating for the small wounds exposed 
by the falling off of the crusts ; that it is better to commence 
with one part of soot to three parts of lard ; and. lastly, that 
wood soot is alone useful ; soot from coal being devoid of any 
agency. 

Dr. Ebers, of Bourdeaux,|| has employed a decoction of soot 
with great advantage in a case of severe burn in which the 
patient was suffering from the profuse discharge. A handful of 
soot was boiled in eight pounds of water, until the fluid was re- 

* Journal des Connaissances M6dico-Chirurg. Mai, 1834. 

f Bulletin Medical. Beige, Nov. 1838, p. 289. 

X Annale9 de la Noci<h<- de Medecine de (Jand, Gazette Mcdicale, and En- 
cyclntrraphie des Sciences M^dicales, Mars, 1840, p. 540. 

§ Bullet. Gcner. de Th6rap. Nov. 1840, and Encycl. des Sciences M6d. 
Fev. 1841, p. 299. 

|| Journ. de Med. etChirurg. Pratiq. Juin, 1841, cited in Amer. Journ. of the 
Med. Sciences, Jan. 1842, p. 231. 
27* 



318 FULIGO. 

duced to two pounds. Lint was then soaked in it, and applied 
to the granulating surface. 

Carron du Villards* advises a collyrium prepared from soot in 
cases of strumous ophthalmia. He infuses two ounces in boiling 
water, filters and evaporates to dryness ; the shining residuum is 
then infused in very strong boiling vinegar, and to every twelve 
ounces of the liquid, twenty-four grains of extract of roses are 
added. A few drops of this solution, in a glass of tepid water, 
form an excellent resolutive collyrium, which may be made 
stronger or weaker at pleasure. He has, also, in cases of spots 
on the cornea, used soot — either blown into the eye alone, or 
mixed with powdered sugar-candy, and has seen good effects 
from it. United with butter, it forms an eyesalve, not inferior 
perhaps, he says, to any other. As, in the treatment of specks on 
the cornea, by dropping laudanum into the eye, the organ quickly 
becomes accustomed to it, Carron du Villards advises, that the 
eye should be excited to a more lively action by means of the 
combination of soot and tincture of opium given below. It is, he 
says, an energetic agent and may be applied by means of a pen- 
cil to granulations on the cornea. He likewise recommends a 
decoction of soot as an injection in discharges, which are the con- 
sequence of chronic inflammation of the vagina. 

More recently, M. Andre Gibrint has detailed to the Academie 
Royale de Medecine of Paris, six cases of chronic inflammation 
of the bladder, in which soot was beneficially used in the way of 
injection. M. Gibrin took from the chimney two ounces of com- 
pact soot, broke it up, washed it, and boiled it in a pound of 
water. The decoction was filtered through paper, and injected 
into the bladder twice a day. The good effects supervened so 
closely on the administration of the remedy, that there could be 
no doubt as to the cause. The pain ceased, and the patient 
obtained sleep, to which he had been for some time a stranger. 
The urine gradually became clear, and recovered its natural ap- 
pearance. 

To these remarks it may be added, that, according to Schutte, 
an ointment composed of two parts of fresh butter or hog's lard, 
and one part of soot — is a popular and efficacious remedy on 
the Rhine for cases of porrigo, itch, and herpes ; not more than a 
dram being rubbed in at a time. Weisenberg ascribes to the 
soot a protective power against contagious affections of the skin, 
and recommends, especially, lotions of soot water, — partly as a 
preventive agent, and partly as a therapeutical application in 
itch. 

* Gazette Medicale, Janvier, 1831 ; see, also, Baudelocque, on its Use in 
Scrophulous Ophthalmia, in Bulletin General de Therapeutique. Mars, 1834. 
t Bulletin del'Academie, 15 Mars, 1837. 






FTJLIG0. 319 

But soot has not been used, of late, externally only ; its in- 
ternal use, in the form of the old " tincture of soot" has been re- 
vived. This was long known under the name of "soot drops," 
" hysteric mixture" and "Jit drops" and was employed as an 
antispasmodic in hysterical and other affections; but its em- 
ployment has been extended, and it is given in chronic rheu- 
matism, chronic affections of the chest, suppressed cutaneous 
eruptions, — in many cases under precisely the same notions 
that prevailed years ago. From thirty to sixty drops of the fol- 
lowing tincture are given several times in the course of the day. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Mistura fuliginis. 

Mixture of soot. 

Tinctura Fuliginis (Clauderi). 

R. Fulig. gss. 

Potassse carbonat. § iss. 
Ammonise carb. ^\\. * 

Aq. sambuc. %ix. 
Digere leni calore. Filtra. 

Dose. — From thirty to sixty drops several times a day. 

lotio fuliginis. 
Lotion of soot. 

R. Fulig. manip. maj. ij. 
Coque cum. aq. Oi. per semihorarn. Cola cum exprefcsione. 

Used as a wash, several times a day, in herpetic, psoric and 
syphilitic ulcers. Blaud. 

Unguentum fuliginis. 

Ointment of soot. 

R. Fulig. 

Adipis, aa. 55s. 

Extract, belladon. Jj. M. exacts. 

To be spread upon lint or tents in cases of cancers. 

Blaud. 



320 FULIGO. 

R. Adipis, 

Fulig. aa. gij. 
Coque leni igne per horas vj. 

As a dressing in cases of tinea, and oifoul ulcers. 

Bland. 

R. Carbon, pulv. 
Sulph. aa.. 5j. 
Fulig. 

Cinchon. flav. aa. 3ss. 
Cerati simplicis q. s. ut fiat unguentum. 

A dram to be rubbed in, once or twice a day, in cases of 
tinea. Carron du Villards. 

R. Opii, gij. 

Caryoph. 3j.. 
Fulig. 3ss. 
Aq. cinnam. f.^viij. 
Alcoholis, f-3iv. 
Digest in a gentle heat for six days ; filter and express the residuum. 

Applied in cases of specks of the cornea. 

Carron du Villards. 

B. Fulig. gij. 

Album, ovi, No. vj. 
Tere simul. 



As a dressing for herpes and tinea. It is the Pommade reso- 
lutive of Sainte Marie.* 



R. Fulig. giss. 

Zinci sulphat. 3vj. 
Adipis, giv. M. 

Applied in cases of tinea. It is the Pommade contre la 
teigne, of Bories.t 

* Nouveau Formulaire Medicale et Pharmaceutique. Paris et Lyon, 1820. 
f Formulaire de Montpellier. Montpellier, 1822. 



FULIGOKALI. 321 



LXXIX. FULIGO'KALI. 






This new remedy called from fuligo, ' soot/ and kali, l potassa,' 
has been introduced as an analogous preparation to anthrako- 
kali (p. 57).* 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

Fuligokali is prepared as follows : — Take of Potassa, 20 
parts ; Shining soot, in powder, 100 parts; Water, a sufficient 
quantity. Boil for an hour ; suffer the decoction to cool ; dilute 
with water so that nitration may be better accomplished ; filter, 
evaporate, and dry, in order to obtain the fuligokali in scales or 
powder ; and inclose it in dry and warm bottles. 

A sulphuretted fuligokali has been prepared as follows : — 
Take of Fuligokali, 60 parts ; Potassa, 14 parts ; Sulphur, 5 
parts. Dissolve the sulphur and potassa in a little water ; then 
add the fuligokali ; evaporate, dry, and enclose it in dry and 
warm bottles. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

Fuligokali has been employed by M. Gibert at the Hopital 
Saint-Louis of Paris, both internally and externally ; but chiefly 
in the latter mode, in various chronic cutaneous diseases. An 
ointment may be made of either the simple or the sulphuretted 
article ; by mixing one or two parts with thirty of lard. M. 
Gibert ascribes to these ointments, resolvent, detergent and 
slightly excitant virtues.f 

Mr. E. WilsonJ thinks it probable, that both anthrakokali 
and fuligokali owe much of their therapeutic value to the 
alkali, which forms their basis. He has employed fuligokali in 
several cases, and especially in psoriasis palmaris, and with 
better success than he has obtained by the usual remedies. 
What might be regarded as a weak solution of fuligokali has 
been used for many years in Philadelphia by Drs. Physick, 

* Journ. des Connaissances M£d. Chir. and Encyclogr. des Sciences Medical. 
Juillet, 1812, p. 9. 

j- See, also, A. Duhamel, Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy, Jan. 1843, p. 284. 

£ A Practical and Theoretical Treatise on the Diagnosis, Pathology, and 
Treatment of Diseases of the Skin, p. 397. Lond. 1812. 



322 GALEOPSIS GRANDIFLORA. 

Dewees and others, under the names of medical lye, soot tea, 
alkaline solution, and dyspeptic lye.* 



LXXX. GALEOPSIS GRANDIFLO'RA. 

Synonymes. Galeopsis Ochroleuca, G. Villosa, G. Segetum, Herba Sideri- 

tidis. 
German. Grossbliithigen Holzahns, Grossblumigte Handfnessel. 

This plant, which belongs to Natural Family Labiatae, 
Sexual System Didynamia Gymospermia, grows in the western 
part of Germany, in sandy cornfields.t 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The fresh plant has a peculiar, feeble, balsamic smell, and a 
somewhat bitter and saltish taste, and has been considered, in 
Germany, to be worthy of a distinguished place amongst the 
"bitter resolvents." It has been much sold as a nostrum, 
under the name of " Blankenheimer Tea," {Blankenheimer 
Thee,) or " Liebers pectoral and phthisical herbs," (Liebersche 
Brust oder Jluszehrungskriiuter,) and enjoyed great repute. In 
the Ardennes, also, particularly in the district of Malmedy, it has 
been long employed as a popular remedy. In the year 1828, 
LejeuneJ directed attention to the therapeutical importance of 
this plant. According to his observation, it is very useful in 
diseases of the mucous membrane of the respiratory and diges- 
tive organs, and especially in chronic pulmonary catarrh, even 
when it exists to such a degree as to merit the name Phthisis 
7)iucosa (Schlei?nschwi)idsucht). In actual phthisis, the affec- 
tion seemed to him to be diminished by it ; the hectic being 
moderated, the expectoration rendered easier, or the cough 
assuaged. 

Lejeune generally boiled half an ounce of the plant in a pint of 
water down to half; sweetened the decoction with sugar or honey, 
and directed the whole to be taken in the twenty-four hours. In 
other cases, in which a milk diet was appropriate, the decoction 

* A. Duhamel, op. cit. 

j- Von Schlechtendal, in Encyclopad. Wbrterb der Medicin. Wissenschaft. 
xiii. 115. Berlin, 1835. 
X Annales Generates des Sciences Physiques, p. 331. Sepr. 1820. 



GALEOPSIS GRANDIFLORA. 323 

was made with an equal quantity of milk. Wesener* found it 
advantageous in phthisis mucosa and in chronic pulmonary 
catarrh. Giinther, who had many opportunities for observing 
the action of the remedy, affirms, that the Lieberschen Krduter 
not unfrequently produced some amelioration in. phthisis, espe- 
cially in scrophulous phthisis but he never saw any actual re- 
covery therefrom. It seemed to him to moderate the colliqua- 
tive sweats, and to facilitate and diminish the expectoration. In 
one case especially, of scrophulous phthisis in the last stage, it 
appeared to be of essential service, and to prolong life : and 
from all his observations he is disposed to infer, that if it be not 
the sole or the main remedy to be employed in every stage of 
phthisis, it may be used with advantage throughout the disease 
as a supporting agent. 

Riecket asserts, that he has seen many cases in which the Lie- 
berschen Krduter were of great service in thoracic affections 
threatening phthisis. In one case, which promised to terminate 
unfavourably in a short time, owing to the complication of violent 
haemoptysis with hectic fever, and in which an experienced phy- 
sician had exhausted every effort of art, they were given with the 
best effect. The thoracic affection ceased, and at that time — a 
period of five or six years since the use of the remedy — the 
patient — an officer — was capable of performing his military 
duties without difficulty. On the other hand, Richter affirms, that 
in two cases in which he administered the galeopsis, no benefit 
resulted from it. In this country, it has not been employed ; so 
that we can only judge from the testimony afforded by the Ger- 
man writers. This, as they themselves admit,! is not yet suffi- 
cient to enable them to lay down any positive rules as to the 
exact indications and counter-indications that must regulate its 
employment. It is probably of no farther service than as a mild 
bitter ; and its place may, therefore, be supplied, perhaps advan- 
tageously, by many of the tonics that are admitted into the lists 
of our remedial agents. Geiger§ subjected it to analysis, and 
found in it 2,765 parts of fatty matter, wax and chlorophylle ; 
0.247 of a brown bitterish resin, insoluble in ether ; 0.312 of a 
yellowish stimulating and bitter resin, soluble in ether ; yellow 
bitter extractive matter, soluble in ether, and a brownish matter 
insoluble therein ; phosphate and malate of lime ; salts of po- 
tassa ; muco-saccharine matter and fecula, and 65.8S2 of ligneous 
matter. 



* Hufeland und Osann's Journ. der Pract. Heilk. 1823 and 1821. 
f Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. S. 241. Stuttgart, 1837. 
% Ibid. 
§ Majjaz. fur Pharmacie, ix. 134. 



324 GALVANISMUS. 



METHOD OF ADMINISTERING. 



Decoctum galeopsidis grandif lorae. 

R. Galeopsid. grandifl. summitat. gj. 
Coque in Aquae Oj. per minut. xv. et cola. 

To be used in the twenty-four hours. Wesener. 

R. Galeop. grandifl. summitat. 
Althaeas, aa. ^j. 
Glycyrrhiz. 5ij- M. 

A fourth part of this to be boiled in a pint and a half of water ; 
and to be used daily in chronic catarrh, and in the expectora- 
tion produced by the softening of pulmonary tubercles. 

Radius* 

The galeopsis versicolor, and the galeopsis villosa, which have 
also been examined by Geiger,t appear to be possessed of the 
same virtues as the galeopsis grandiflora.\ 



LXXXI. GALVANIS'MUS. 

Synontmes. Electricitas Animalis, E. Galvanica seu Metallica, Irritamentum 

Metallorum seu Metallicum, Galvanism, Voltaism, Galvanic Electricity. 
French. Galvanisme. 

The ordinary effects of common and galvanic electricity and 
of electro-magnetism are so well known, as to require but little 
comment. They are decidedly excitant ; and, like all excitants, 
when applied to a part of the frame, are counter-irritant or re- 
vellent. All have been employed in paralysis, — general and 
local, — amaurosis, deafness and dumbness of recent duration, 
asthma, rheumatism, neuralgia, amenorrhata,\ &c. The effect, 
however, which galvanism exerts on the contractility of the mus- 
cular fibre, and the great similarity, in its agency, to the nervous 

* Auserlesene Heilformeln, u. s. w. S. 274. Leipz. 1836. 
t Allgem. Med. Annalen,S. 1141. 1825. 
% Richter's Specielle Therapie, B. x. S. 397. Berlin, 1828. 
§ G. Bird, Guy's Hospital Reports, April, 1841, p. 84. 



GALVANISMUS. 325 

influence,* has led to its employment more frequently in the 
various nervous and spasmodic diseases referred to, and in others 
belonging to the same class.t Resting on his views of the 
absolute identity between the nervous and galvanic fluids,:): Dr. 
Wilson Philip employed it in many diseases, and especially in 
asthma. In a paper read by him before the Royal Society of 
London, in January, 1S16, he details some experiments, which 
he made on rabbits. The eighth pair or pneumogastric nerves 
were divided by incisions made in the neck. After the opera- 
tion, the parsley, which the animals had eaten, remained un- 
changed in their stomachs, and after evincing much difficulty of 
breathing, they seemed to die of suffocation. But when, in 
other animals, whose nerves had been divided, the galvanic 
agency was transmitted along the nerve, below its section, to a 
disc of silver, placed closely in contact with the skin of the ani- 
mal, opposite to its stomach, no difficulty of breathing occurred. 
The galvanic action being kept up for twenty-six hours, the 
rabbits were then killed and the parsley was found digested. 

The removal of dyspnoea, in these cases, led Dr. Philip to 
employ galvanism as a remedy for asthma ; and, by transmitting 
its influence from the nape of the neck to the pit of the stomach, 
he gave decided relief in every one of twenty-two cases, of which 
four were in private practice, and eighteen in the Worcester In- 
firmary. The power employed varied from ten to twenty-five 
pairs of plates. Since then, galvanism has been repeatedly used 
in such cases, and at times with marked relief. Commonly, 
however, the plates, described hereafter, are employed for this 
purpose. The disease, in the majority of cases, appears to be 
dependent upon erethism of the pneumogastric nerves ; all the 
phenomena indicating that there is a spastic constriction of the 
small bronchial tubes, occasioned by irritation at the extremities, 
or in the course of the nerve. The new impression, made by 
the galvanic agency, breaks in upon the concentration of nervous 
action, by exciting other portions of the nervous system, in the 
same manner as we observe spasms or ordinary cramp relieved, 
or paroxysmal diseases warded off, by agents that are capable 
of suddenly impressing some part of the nervous system. 

Not long after these researches of Dr. Philip, galvanism was 
employed satisfactorily by Mr. Mansford§ in a congenerous 
disease — epilepsy — and his plan was afterwards — although 

* See the Author's Physiology, i. 88,3d edit. Philad. 1838. 

f Pereira, Elements of Mat Med. 2d. edit. p. 42. Lond. 1842; or Amer. 
Edit, by Dr. Carson, Philad. 1833. See, also, the Author's General Thera- 
peutics and Mat. Mod. i. 511. Philad. 1843. 

% Experimental Inquiry into the Laws of the Vital Functions, Lond. 1817. 

§ Researches into the Nature and Causes of Epilepsy, &c, Bath, 1819. 
28 



326 GALVANISMTJS. 

tardily — extended to some other paroxysmal disorders. The 
mode of application, recommended by Mansford, is as follows : 
A portion of the cuticle, of the size of a sixpence, is removed 
by means of a small blister on the back of the neck, as close to 
the root of the hair as possible, and a similar portion is removed 
from the hollow beneath, and on the inside of, the knee, as the 
most convenient place. To the excoriated surface on the neck, 
a plate of silver, varying — according to the age of the patient 

— from the size of a sixpence to that of half a crown, is applied, 
having attached to its back part a handle or shank, and to its 
lower edge — and parallel with the shank — a small staple, to 
which the conducting wire is fastened. This wire passes down 
the back, until it reaches a belt of chamois leather, buttoned 
round the waist ; it then follows the course of the belt to which 
it is attached, until it arrives opposite the groin of the side on 
which we desire to employ it ; it then passes down the inside of 
the thigh, and is fastened to the zinc plate in the same manner 
as to the silver one. The apparatus, contrived in this way, is 
thus applied. A small piece of sponge, moistened in water, and 
corresponding in size to the blistered part of the neck, is first 
placed directly upon it ; over this, a large piece of the same size 
as the metallic plate, also moistened, is laid, and next to this, the 
plate itself, which is secured in its situation by a strip of adhesive 
plaster passed through the shank in its back ; another above, 
and another below it. If these be properly placed, and the wire, 
which passes down the back be allowed sufficient room that it 
may not drag, the plate will not be moved from its position by 
any ordinary motion of the body. The zinc plate is fastened in 
the same manner, but in place of the second layer of sponge, a 
piece of muscle answering in size to the zinc plate is interposed ; 

— that is, a small piece of moistened sponge being first fitted 
to the exposed surface below the knee, the piece of muscle moist- 
ened, or — what has been found equally effectual and less in- 
convenient — a piece of moistened flannel* follows, and on this 
the plate of zinc. 

The apparatus, thus arranged, will continue, according to Mr. 
Mansford, in gentle and uninterrupted action from twelve to 
twenty-four hours, according to circumstances. " This last is the 
longest period that it can be allowed to go unremoved ; the sores 
require cleaning and dressing, and the surface of the zinc becomes 
covered with a thick oxide, which must be removed to restore 
its freedom of action : this may be done by scraping or polishing ; 
but it will be better if removed twice a day, both for the greater 

* Dr. Chapman says soft buckskin or parchment. American Journal of the 
Medical Sciences, Aug. 1834, p. 311. 



GALVANISMUS. 327 

security of a permanent action, and for the additional comfort of 
the patient." 

The adoption of this plan of treatment in cases of tic doulou- 
reux ; the confidence reposed by Laennec in the use of plates 
on the breast and back in angina pectoris, and similar neuralgic 
affections of the chest ; and the communications of Drs. Harris 
and Chapman, brought it into extensive use, so that ample trial 
was given to it in this country, both in public and private prac- 
tice. In three cases, it was — to employ the language of Pro- 
fessor Chapman* — " triumphantly directed" by Dr. Harris ; but 
it was only found effectual in affections of the face ; and in these 
cases it had to be persevered in for some time before marked 
benefit was experienced.! About the same period, this mode of 
applying galvanism was recommended by Dr. Miller,! of Wash- 
ington University, Baltimore, and a case of paraplegia and 
another of general paralysis were published by him, in which it 
was found highly efficacious. 

More recently, Dr. Hays has stated, that the most useful 
remedy in certain cases of amaurosis, which fell under his care,§ 
was unquestionably galvanism. This was evinced not only in 
the improvement, which followed its application, but in the 
" still more striking fact," that the patient saw better whilst sub- 
jected to the galvanic action. Dr. Hays found a Cruikshank's 
battery of fifty pairs of plates three inches square — when in full 
activity — too powerful for the purpose, so that only one-half or 
two-thirds of the plates were usually employed. The connexion 
was made by means of leaden wire conductors, to one end of 
which was soldered a slip of copper, and to the other a hemi- 
sphere of brass, the flat surface of which was filed into grooves 
crossing at right angles, so as to form a number of sharp points. 
Over these were tied thin discs of sponge, which were kept moist 
with a solution of common salt, and when it was considered de- 
sirable to introduce strychnia into the system, the sponge attached 
to the negative pole — and sometimes that to the positive pole, 
also — was moistened with a solution of it. 

When the whole force of the battery was not wanted, instead 
of placing the slips in the extreme cells, they were placed in cells 
more or less remote, according to the power required ; and the 
force was easily regulated. 

The galvanic current may be made to pass from the mastoid 
process to the superciliary ridge. 

Dr. Hays expresses his persuasion, that galvanism, properly 

* Op. citat. p. 311. 

+ Dr. Harris, in Amer. Journal of the Medical Sciences, Aug. 1834, p. 384. 
I Ibid. p. 321. 
' § American Journ. of the Medical Sciences, Aug. 1840, p. 289. 



32S GALVANISMUS. 

employed, is a valuable and effective remedy for certain forms 
of amaurosis. 

Electro-magnetism was tried by him in several cases in Wills' 
Hospital, and in a number of cases in private practice; but without 
its seeming to be productive of the slightest benefit in a single 
instance ; whence he infers, that, for remedial purposes, a regular 
and constant galvanic current would appear to be more useful 
than the violent shocks produced by interrupted currents, such 
as are induced by the electro-magnetic apparatus. 

There are doubtless — as already observed — cases of disease, 
in which the excitant and revulsive agency of galvanism may 
be employed with advantage, but they are not so numerous as 
was at one time believed. The author has used the plates ex- 
tensively — in neuralgic cases especially — but has not experi- 
enced so much success, as to induce him to advise them frequently, 
under the inconveniences that necessarily accompany their em- 
ployment. They are, indeed, at this time, but little used. 

Some years ago, Professor Von Hildenbrand, of Pavia,* re- 
commended, in cases of frontal neuralgia an anodyne metallic 
or galvanic brush, which appears to have been as effectual in his 
hands as the galvanic plates in those of Dr. Harris. It consists 
of a bundle of metallic wires not thicker than common knitting- 
needles, firmly tied together by wire of the same material, so as 
to form a cylinder of about four or five inches long, and an inch 
or three-fourths of an inch in diameter. This is applied to the 
pained part, which has been previously moistened with a solution 
of common salt; and, according to Von Hildenbrand, it at times 
produces relief so instantaneous, that it appears to the patients 
to act like a charm. In his first experiments, he employed 
brushes constructed of two kinds of metal, — for instance, of silver 
and copper wire, copper and zinc wire, or zinc and brass wire, 
the individual wires being mutually commingled ; but he subse- 
quently ascertained, that bundles of wires of one and the same 
metal produced an effect scarcely less speedy, and that solid me- 
tallic bodies act in a similar manner, but in a much feebler degree. 
The nature of the metal he thinks occasions no difference. 

It is not probable, that, in these cases, galvanism is the agency 
concerned. Like the metallic tractors of Perkins, the effect is pro- 
bably induced by the new nervous impression made through the 
excited imagination of the patient. 

Animal Magnetism. — Mesmerism, Neurogamia, Biogamia, 
Biomagnetismus, Zoomagnetismus , Tellurismus, Exoneurism, 
as it has been termed — exerts an anodyne influence in probably 

* Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, April, 1833. 



GENTIANA CHIRAYITA. 329 

the same manner. In highly impressible persons, more or less 
prolonged impressions made upon the senses — as by the ope- 
rator looking steadfastly in the eyes of the patient, holding the 
thumbs or hands at the same time, or making passes in front of 
the patient — will induce an hysteric or hysteroid condition, in 
which the patient may fall into what is called " magnetic sleep," 
of a very sound, and at times cataleptic, character : during the 
existence of this sleep, the patient may be insensible to certain 
irritants, and yet extremely alive to others, so that operations — 
as the extraction of teeth, and even some of a more serious cha- 
racter — may be performed without eliciting the ordinary evi- 
dences of feeling. Ill cases of delirium tremens, accompanied 
by watchfulness, in which the whole nervous system is extremely 
impressible, sleep may be at times induced by the employment 
of this agency, which has resisted the ordinary anodynes.* 

Of late years, it has been proposed to introduce into the rectum, 
in cases of constipation, a kind of galvanic suppository, made of 
two metals — zinc and copper — and various forms of instru- 
ments have been devised by the prolific imaginations of the in- 
ventors; those intended for the rectum simply were doubtless of 
advantage, at times, by virtue of the excitation they induced in 
the nerves of the mucous membrane. Others, formed somewhat 
like a bassoon — and so arranged as to have one metal in the 
mouth and the other in the rectum connected together by metal 

— did notjappear to act differently from those of the simpler form. 
Both have gone into disuse, and — as has been said elsevvheret 

— if their efficacy on the frame has not been well marked, they 
have not failed to minister to the pockets of their inventors. 



LXXXII. GENTIA'NA CHIRAYITA. 

Synonymes. Henricea Pharmacearcha, Swertia Chirayita, Agathotes Chi- 
rayita, Chiretta, Chirayita. 

Gentiana chirayita is a native of India, whence it is imported 
into England tied up in bundles. It has been long in use there. 

• Dr. Vedder, in Dunglison's American Medical Intelligencer, Feb. 1, 1839, 
p. 331. 

\ General Thenpputica, p. 248, Pliilnd. 183G, and General Therapeutics and 
Mat. Med. Philad. 1843. 
28* 



330 GRANATI RADICIS CORTEX. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The herb and root are intensely bitter, and produce on the 
economy the ordinary effects of the pure bitters. They strik- 
ingly resemble gentian, and are employed in India in dyspepsia, 
and as an antiperiodic in intermit tents.* The plant has been 
highly extolled by Drs. Cnrrie, Sigmond, and others. These gen- 
tlemen consider that the secretion from the liver improves under 
its use ; and the latter advises it not only in torpor of the diges- 
tive/unction, but he prefers it to sarsaparilla where the latter is 
considered to be indicated, — as after large quantities of mercury 
have been taken, or where profuse salivation has been induced. 
It has also been advised in atonic leucorrhoza. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Gentiana chirayita yields its virtues to alcohol and water. 
(Gent, chirayit. gii. ; Aq. bullient. Oss.). The tincture is made 
by macerating five ounces of the chirayita for fourteen days in 
two pints of diluted alcohol. Dose, a teaspoonful. The dose 
of the powder is one scruple.t 



LXXXIII. GRANATI RADI'CIS CORTEX. 

Synonymes. Punica Granatum, Malogranatum, Pomegranate (the bark of 

the root). 
French. Grenadier, Balaustier. 
German. Granatwurzelrinde. 

Punica Granatum appears to be a native of the northern coast 
of Africa, whence it was transported to Italy at the time of the 
Carthaginian wars. It is now cultivated in all civilized regions, 
where the climate is sufficiently warm to allow the fruit to ripen. 
It belongs to the Natural Family Myrtacese, and, in the 
Sexual System, to Icosandria Monogynia. 

All the parts of the plant contain more or less tannic acid. 
The bark of the root is externally of a yellowish-gray or ash 

* J. Johnson, Influence of Tropical Climates, 3d edit. p. 58. 
f See "Note upon Gentiana Chirayita, by Dr. Carson, in Amer. Journ. of 
Pharmacy, new series, vol. vi. No. 1, Apl. 1840, p. 20. 



GRANATI RADICIS CORTEX. 331 

colour ; internally yellow, and has an astringent taste. Ac- 
cording to Latour de Trie,* it contains wax, chlorophylle, a con- 
siderable quantity of resin, gallic acid, tannic acid, fatty matter, 
and a peculiar matter called Grenadin, — in German, Granatin. 
Grenadin, in its pure state, is of a white colour ; inodorous, 
and of a sweetish taste ; so much so indeed, that, according to 
Magendie, it might, be presumed to be a variety of sugar, except 
that it differs from ordinary sugar in being devoid of the property 
of fermenting. According to the degree of its purity, it crystal- 
lises in grains, tufts or stars. When thrown on red hot coals, it 
consumes without any residuum, and smells like burnt bread. It 
is fusible, and by a moderate heat may be almost wholly sublimed. 
It neither reacts as an acid nor an alkali, and is readily soluble 
in water. Cold alcohol dissolves only traces of it, but boiling 
alcohol dissolves it readily, — a property, which is to be taken ad- 
vantage of in the formation of crystals. In ether it is insoluble. 
Nitric acid, with the assistance of heat, converts it into oxalic 
acid. An ounce of the bark yields six grains of grenadin ; but 
it is not settled, whether it contains the whole of the medical pro- 
perties of the bark. Cenedella,t from whom we have the most 
recent analysis of the bark of the pomegranate root, also found 
the grenadin discovered by Latour. This substance is readily 
prepared. The bark in powder is treated with ether, and after- 
wards with boiling alcohol, and the fluid is evaporated to the 
consistence of a soft extract. By treating.this extract with water, 
grenadin is dissolved without difficulty, and it may be purified 
by suffering it to crystallise frequently from alcohol. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The therapeutical properties of the different parts of the pome- 
granate tree were known to the writers of antiquity. They em- 
ployed not only the bark of the root as a remedial agent, but also 
the flowers (Flores Balanstiorum, Baluustes, Balaustia, Ba- 
laualine Flowcrs),\he, whole fruit (Poma Granati, Malogranata, 
Granala, Mala Punica, Pomegranate : Fr. Grenades), the 
rind of the fruit (Malicorium, Malichorium, Malacorium),<m& 
the seeds. Dioscorides, Pliny, Celsus and Marcellus Empiricus 
speak of the employment of the bark of the root in txnia.\ In 
more modern times, Punica granatin had been greatly neglected, 
although the juice of the fruit was recommended by Frederick 

* Journal de Pharmaeie, Fiv. 1828, p. 109. 

f Giornale di Farmacia, A got* to, 1831, p. 55. See, also, Journal de Phar- 
maeie, ix. 219 ; x. 352; and xvii. 503 ; and Prof. Dierbach, in Heidelberg. 
Klin. Annalen, 15. x. 11. 3. S. 965. II.'idHb. 1834. 

% Mcrat and De Lens. Diet, de Mat. Medical. Art. Punica Granatum. 



332 GRANATI RADICIS CORTEX. 

Hoffman against loorms in children. In India, it has been long 
held in great estimation as a remedy in tapeworm, and its effi- 
cacy having been noticed by some English physicians, it was 
recommended to the attention of European physicians, especi- 
ally by Buchanan,* Fleming and Breton. t About the same time, 
a monograph was published by Gomez, a Portuguese physician, 
which appears to have had considerable agency in extending 
the reputation of the remedy, especially in Germany, where the 
monograph was translated into the Journal of Gerson and Julius.f 
Gomez directs two ounces of the fresh rind of ^ the root to be 
boiled in a pint and a half of water down to a pint ; and of this 
decoction two or three spoonfuls to be taken for a dose ; the first 
early in the morning fasting, and then every half hour until the 
whole is used. The efficacy of the preparation he tested in four- 
teen cases, from which it appeared, that the worm could not 
withstand its action more than forty-eight hours. He found it 
to exert most efficacy, when portions of the worm were per- 
ceptible in the evacuations, a period when the patient generally 
suffers most inconvenience. If the exit of the worm did not 
take place on the first day, after the use of the agent, the 
decoction was continued on the second day, when the worm was 
generally discharged. Did this, however, not happen, a farther 
continuance of the remedy was of no avail ; and he thought it 
better to intermit it until the appearance of fresh portions of the 
worm in the evacuations. Gomez also administers the dried 
rind in pills. If the dose be too large, or the appropriate dose 
be too frequently repeated, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea at 
times supervene : should this be the case, the proper course is 
obvious. 

In countries, where the fresh rind can be obtained, Gomez 
advises, that it should be used ; in colder countries, the dried rind, 
which is obtained from more southern regions, will have to be 
employed. According to Breton, the latter acts more powerfully. 
The dried rind loses more than half its weight, and two ounces of 
it may be esteemed equal to three of the fresh. 

The strong testimony, adduced in its favour by Gomez, gave 
occasion to numerous trials with it in England, France, Germany 
and Italy, which were generally attended with favourable results. 
Such favourable testimony has been afforded by Boiti, Marchese, 
Calabro, Majoli, Chevallier, Deslandes, M^rat,§ Pichonnier, 
Mandrux, Claret, Bayle, Delaporte, Gendrin, Grimaud, Chapo- 

* Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journal, iii. 22, 1827. 

f Medico-Chirurg, Transact, xi. 31. 

| Magazin, u. s. w. vi. 427, and Journal Complementaire des Sciences 
Medicales, xvi. 24, 1823 

% Du Taenia, &c. et de sa cure radicale par l'ecorce de la racine de Grenadier. 
Paris, 1832; and M£rat and De Lens, Op. cit. 



GRANATI RADICIS CORTEX. 333 

tin, Bonrgeoise, Housson, Goupil, Ferrus, Wolff, Kostler, Mei- 
singer, Berthold,and others.* On the other hand, Keibelt com- 
plains of its uncertainty; and, in the Polyclinical Institute of the 
University of Berlin, it was given without advantage ; but 
Osann, in his report of that institution, is disposed to refer the 
want of success to some imperfection in the rind employed, 
which, he remarks, is found to vary greatly in its character, as 
met with in the shops of apothecaries. It would appear, also, 
that it is not unfrequently mixed with the rind of the root of the 
Boxtree, and Guelder rose. 

To introduce more precision on this matter, Wolff recommends 
that the druggists should purchase the bark of the root of the 
genuine East India, or at all events the Portuguese, tree. BoitiJ 
advises that the root should be obtained from mountainous regions, 
where the tree grows wild ; that it should be taken only from 
young trees, and that it should not be more than an inch thick ; 
that it should be carefully separated from the woody portion, and 
be collected in the spring of the year, when the tree has most 
sap, and be dried in the shade. Cbevallier,§ also advises, that 
only the rind of the root of the wild tree should be used. Gen- 
drin, Montault and Pichonnier affirm, that the fresh rind was 
alone certain in its operation ; the dry frequently disappointing 
them. According to Breton, the rind of the trunk is to be pre- 
ferred to that of the root, because it preserves its virtues longer. 
Chevallier recommends, before the decoction of the pomegranate 
tree bark is administered, that a gentle cathartic of castor oil with 
lemon juice should be premised. This may be taken the evening 
before, the patient fasting during the following day. He directs 
the decoction to be made of two ounces of the rind macerated 
for twenty-four hours, in two pints of water, and then boiled until 
a pint of the strained liquor remains. This must be divided into 
three portions, which are taken in half hourly doses. The first 
and second doses with many persons excite vomiting, but this 
need not prevent the administration of the third, as it rarely pro- 
duces the same effect. This quantity of the decoction commonly 
occasions three or four evacuations, preceded by slight colic 
pains; at other times, but one evacuation is produced, with 
which the worm is usually expelled. The period that elapses 
between the administration of the last dose of the remedy and 
the commencement of its operation is from a quarter of an hour 
to a whole hour — rarely longer. 

Cenedella advises, that the bark of the root should be macerated 
before boiling ; that the decoction should be made in earthen, 
not in metallic, vessels, and that it should be filtered 01 strained 

• Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, S. 247. 

t Rust's Magazin, xvi. St. 3. S. 5G6. 

| Revue Encyclop. xxxii. 234. 

§ Journal de Chimie Mcdicale, i. 378 ; 1825. 



334 GRANATI RADICIS CORTEX. 

whilst hot, — different constituents, which are probably efficacious, 
being deposited as the liquor cools. 

According to Constant, the decoction is commonly prepared in 
France in the following manner : — The rind of the fresh root — 
or the bruised root dried — is macerated through the night in 
from a pint and a half to a quart of ivater ; the liquor is then 
boiled # to one-half, strained ; and, in the morning, a third part is 
taken lukewarm, fasting, and repeated every three hours until 
the whole has been administered. The quantity of the rind, 
used for the decoction, is, in the case of the adult, gj. ; of children, 
from six to fifteen years old, 3vj ; and of those under six years 
of age, gss. At times, however, it has been administered in 
much larger doses. A girl, twenty-four years of age, had suf- 
fered from tvenia from her infancy, and had frequently passed 
fragments of worms in her evacuations. She took two ounces 
of the bruised bark of the pomegranate root, boiled in two 
pounds of water, at thrice, with half an hour's interval between 
the doses, but without effect. The dose was now increased to 
three ounces, and two tapeworms were expelled ; so that in two 
days, and without any abdominal disturbance, the patient took 
the decoction of five ounces of the bark of pomegranate root.* 

To ensure the proper action of the decoction, it must be given 
as directed above, without the addition of sugar or syrup, which 
changes its properties. During its operation, the patient should 
drink nothing except when the tormina are urgent, and then a 
little of any aromatised water, without sugar, may be taken. 
The remedy should be given only on days in which portions of 
taenia are evacuated, or on the following morning ; and the ali- 
mentary canal should be free from every evidence of inflam- 
matory irritation. By some, as by Latour de Trie and Ferrus, 
an infusion of the rind has been found serviceable ; and 
Deslandes recommends an Extractum spirituosum, and an 
Extraclum aquosum corticis radicis granati. 

Ferrus, Berthold, Goupil, and others, have published cases in 
which, along with the expulsion of taenia, various neuroses were 
removed under the use of the rind, and accordingly it has been 
thought, that it might be usefully employed in such affections 
where no tsenia exists ; — in epilepsy and hysteria, for example. 

Decoctum granati radicis corticis. 
Decoction of pomegranate root bark. 
R. Granati radicis corticis, §ij. 
Aquae, Oij. 
Boil to a pint and a half. 

* Professor Forget, in Gazette des Hopitaux, Fev. 19, 1839, and Lond. 
Med. Gazette, April 20, 1839. 



GTJACO. 335 

Dose. — gij. every half hour. Three or four doses are usually- 
sufficient to expel the worm* The formula quoted by Dr. 
Parist from Dr. Ainslie's Materia Medica of Hindostan, directs 
the decoction to be prepared with 3ij. of the fresh bark, boiled 
in a pint and a half of water, until only three-quarters of a pint 
remain. 



Electnarium extracti granati radicis corticis. 

Electuary of extract of pomegranate root bark. 

R. Extract, alcohol, granat. rad. cort. J v j« 
Aquae riorum tiliae, 
Succi. limon. aa. §iij. 
Tragac. q. s. ut fiat electuarium. 

Dose. — One half, from half hour to half hour. 

Deslandes. 

Mistnra extracti granati radicis corticis. 

Mixture of extract of pomegranate root bark. 

R. Extract, alcohol, granat. rad. cort.5vj. 
Aquae menthae, 
Aquae flor. tiliae,:}: 
Succ. limon. aa. f.gij. M. 

To be divided into four parts, one of which may be taken 
every quarter of an hour. Deslandes. 



LXXXIV. GUACO. 

Svnonymes. Huaco, Eupatorium Huaco. 

It would appear, that owing to some extracts in the Mlge- 
meine Zcitung the attention of the German physicians had been 
directed to this article as an important agent in the cure of epi- 
demic cholera ; and various testimonials have been brought for- 

* Jourdan's Pharmacopee Universclle, i. C38. Paris, 1828. 

f Pharmacologia, Beck's American Edition, p. 380. New York, 1831. 

\ Any simple aromatic water may be substituted for this. 



336 guaco. 

ward in its favour, which, as Riecke* properly suggests, may 
not be confirmed by farther experience, and yet the circumstance 
may have led to the introduction of a valuable article into the 
catalogue of medicinal agents. 

Many species of the genus Eupatorium, and of the kindred 
genus Mikania, — which has been recently separated from it, be- 
longing to the Natural Family Compositse (Synantherese, sub- 
division Corymbiferas), and, in the Sexual System, to Syngenesia 
iEqualis, have been prized in various parts of America, parti- 
cularly in cases of the bites of serpents. This is especially the 
case with Eupatorium ayapana (E. triplinerve). According 
to Von Martius, a quantity of the bruised leaves is applied to 
the scarified wound, and the application of fresh leaves is re- 
newed, over and over again, until the patient is freed from the 
dangerous symptoms, and especially from the violent suffering. 
At the same time, a few spoonfuls of the expressed juice are 
administered every now and then. The Mikania opifera (Eu- 
patorium crenatum), — in Brazil termed Erva da cobra — and 
the Eupatorium saturejsefolium (Mikania saturejsefolia), also 
"belong to the many Synanthereee, which, in South America, are 
reputed specifics against the bites of serpents. The most im- 
portant species appears to be that called, in Peru, Guaco, or 
Huaco, which is held there in high consideration, as well as in 
Columbia, New Grenada, and Venezuela, not only in these 
cases, but in the prevention of hydrophobiaA This is presumed 
to be the Mikania guaco of Humboldt. Dr. Hancock, however, 
affirms, that the names Guaco and Bejuco de Guaco were given 
— in the parts of America where he sojourned — to different 
species of Aristolochia. 

Guaco was made known, forty or fifty years ago, by Mutis,^ 
who refers to its effects in cases of the bites of serpents. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Of the efficacy of the guaco in the Indian cholera, M. E. de 
Chaniac, Officier de Sante in the French navy, and Dr. Chabert, 
physician to the military hospital in Mexico, have published the 
results of their experience. When the brig Adonis, on her voyage 
from Havana to Mexico, in the year 1833, arrived at Vera Cruz, 
some of her crew were attacked with cholera, which prevailed 

* Die neuern Arzneimittel. u. s. w. S. 250. Stuttgart, 1837. 

t See W. R. Johnson, in Silliman's Journal, xxiv. 279 and 388, New 
Haven, 1833 ; and Ibid, xxvii. 171, New Haven, 1835 ; also, Dr. Hancock, in 
Quarterly Journal of Science, &c. from January to June, 1830, p. 333. 

\ Virey, in Bulletin de la Societe de Pharraacie, vi. 241 ; and Riecke, Op. 
cit. 251. 



guaco. 337 

at the time in Mexico. Of all the remedies employed, the guaco 
was found most beneficial ; its effects, indeed, were so wonder- 
ful, that it was regarded almost as a specific. Its action is chiefly 
exerted on the heart and the circulation, which it renders more 
energetic. All the patients, to whom it was exhibited in the 
commencement of the disease, were saved, and even of those, in 
whom the cholera had already reached a certain stage, the 
greater part were saved, as soon as a free and complete reaction 
was established. 

Dr. Chabert, who first administered guaco in cholera, as well 
as in yelloiv fever, observes on its use in the former disease : — In 
simple cases, a small teacupful of a warm decoction of guaco was 
given every half hour, until a general diaphoresis and proper 
warmth of surface supervened, which Avas kept up for some days, 
when the remedy was gradually discontinued. To allay the thirst, 
the decoction was given, diluted with two-thirds, or half, water. In 
dangerous cases of cholera algida, with coldness, loss of pulse, 
&c, a spoonful of the tincture was mixed with six or eight 
spoonfuls of water, and, every quarter of an hour, a spoonful of 
this mixture was given alternately with a small cupful of the 
decoction. When the pulse returned, the warmth became restored 
and the perspiration re-established ; the tincture was omitted, 
and the decoction continued alone at longer intervals. In the 
majority of cases, after the cessation of the cholera symptoms, 
pain was experienced in the epigastrium, with burning thirst, 
which yielded when the decoction was diluted with half or two- 
thirds water. When the decoction could not be retained by the 
stomach, it was given in clyster. Bloodletting, general and local, 
was employed along with other external means, but nothing was 
given internally, except the guaco. To make the decoction ; — 
two drams of the stalks, and half a dram of the leaves, were 
boiled in two pints of water, down to one. The tincture was 
prepared like other tinctures. 

In consequence of the communications of Chabert and De Cha- 
niac, as well as of the parallel drawn by Harless,* between the 
cholera and the effects of the bites of serpents, Professor Beckers, 
of Munchen, recommended that experiments should be made with 
guaco ; and it was accordingly tried in Munchen, but not with 
as favourable results as had been expected. Romerio asserts, that 
it was given in the stadium(tsph//cticum, in the form of infusion, 
made of half an ounce of tin: stalks, hut with uncertain results. It 
appeared to combine the effect of valerian and ipecacuanha, yet 
it excited less vomiting than the latter. The tincture appeared 
to render greater service. It was given in the dose of a coffee- 
spoonful every half hour, and, subsequently, every hour, and 

* Die Indischc Cholera u. s. w. Braunschweig, 1831. 
29 



33S HIPPOCASTANUM. 

every two hours. It would appear, that in the district of Prague, 
its administration was attended with very favourable conse- 
quences.* To account for the different results, it is affirmed, that 
different drugs are met with in commerce under the nameguaco. 
Riecke says, that M. Jobst had sent him two kinds, which were 
evidently from different plants : the one variety was obtained 
from Hamburg and Bordeaux ; the other from Paris : descriptions 
of these are given by Riecke. The truth, probably, is, that this, 
like most of the cholera specifics which have been brought for- 
ward, is efficacious in certain cases of the disease, but that its 
agency has been egregiously exaggerated. 



LXXXV. HIPPOCASTANUM (CORTEX). 

Synonymes. iEsculus Hippocastanum, Castanea Equina, C. Pavina, Horse 

Chestnut, Buck Eye (the Bark). 
French. Marronier, Marronier d'Inde. 
German. Rosscastanien (Rinde). 

The tree, whence this bark is derived, is the JEsculus Hip- 
pocastanum, or Horse Chestnut — of the Natural Family 
Hippocastanese ; Sexual System, Heptandria Monogynia — 
which is wild on the mountains of Asia Minor and Persia, and 
grows in this country, as well as in Europe. The bark has a 
very astringent taste, is somewhat bitter, and contains a great 
deal of tannic acid. Canzoneri thinks he discovered a peculiar 
principle in it, which he calls JEsculine,\>x\\, the existence of this 
is contested. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The Cortex hippocastanihas long been advised as an astringent, 
but without receiving much attention. t In modern times, it has 
been proposed by Zannichelli, Hufeland, Voigtel, and others, as 
the best substitute for the cinchona. These recommendations 
have caused the bark to be more frequently administered of late,in 
Europe, by which means it has been discovered to accord almost 

* Riecke, Op. cit. S. 256. 

t Merat and De Lens, Art. JEsculus Hippocastanum. 



HIPPOCASTANUM. 339 

entirely in its effects with willow bark : the latter, however, 
appears to be more effective, and to agree better with the diges- 
tive organs. In the wars of Napoleon, when bark was very- 
scarce, it was much employed. 

Hufeland and Voigtel recommend it especially in intermit- 
tents. Sinogowitz* advises, that it should be given after the 
removal of intermittents by quinia, to prevent a relapse ; and, 
also, in combination with diuretic agents, in the cases of dropsy 
which often succeed to that disease. Krugelstein found it al- 
ways extremely efficacious in atonic gout, and in removing the 
weakness of the digestive apparatus that remains after attacks 
of gout. The Austrian, Brunswick, Danish, Russian, and Saxon 
PharmacopcEiast have an aqueous extract of the bark, 
which Voigtel administered with good results in intermittent 
fever, and which he often found serviceable in chronic discharges 
from the mucous membranes. It agrees better with the stomach 
than the powder or the decoction. Externally, the decoction 
has been advised as a good astringent. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Pulvis corticis hippocastani compositus. 

Compound powder of horse-chestnut bark. 

Pulvis Chinae Factitius. 

Factitious Powder of Bark. 

R. Hippocast. cort. 
Salic, cort. 
Gentian, rubr. cort. 
Calam. 

Caryophyll. aa. Jij. 
Misce et fiat pulvis. 

Hufeland J affirms, that this powder is an adequate substitute 
for cinchona in three cases out of four. 

Hufeland, and Prussian Pharmacopoeia. 

* Rust'3 Majjazin, B. xxix. II. i. p. 84. 

f Pharmacopde Universale, ii. 14. Paris, 1828. 

% Armenpharmacopoe. 4te Ausgab. Berl. 1825. 



340 HIPPOCASTANTJM. 

Decoctum corticis Iiippo cast ani. 

Decoction of horse chestnut bark. 

R. Cort. hippocastan. giss. 
Coque cum aquse f.^xviij. ad reman, colat. f.5ix. ; cui refrigerat. adde 
Spir. aether, sulph. f>3J. — ij. 
Syr. cort. aurant. f.5J. M. 

To be used during the apyrexia. Voigtel. 

Decoctum chinse factitiee. 
Decoction of factitious bark. 

R. Salic, cort. pulv. crass. 

Hippocast. cort. aa. ^ss. 

Calam. 

Caryophyll. aa. ^ij- 
Coque cum aq. fontan. qXv'i. ad reman, colat. 3 viij. 

Prussian Pharmacopoeia. 

Decoctum hippocastani acidiim. 

Acid decoction of horse chestnut. 

R. Hippocast. cort. pulv. ^vj. 
Coque cum 

Acid, sulphur, dilut. f.Jj. et 
Aquae, f.^x 
Ad colat. f-3vj. 

Used in the after-treatment of intermittens. 

Electuarium corticis hippocastani. 

Electuary of horse chestnut bark. 

R. Hippocast. cort. pulv. 3SS. 
Calam. 3ss. 
Roob. juniperi, 3 iij. M. ut fiat electuarium. 

A teaspoonful to be taken every hour, or every two hours, in 
drojjsies supervening on intermittent fever. 

Sinogoivitz. 



HYDRARGYRI BROMIDTTM. 341 



HYDRAR'GYRI PRJEPARA'TA. 



Synonymes. Preparations of Mercury. 
French. Les Preparations de Mercure. 
German. Quecksilberpraparate. 



LXXXVI. HYDRARGYRI BRO'MIDUM. 

Synonymes. Hydrargyrum Bromatuni, Bromide of Mercury. 
German. Bromquecksilber. 

Mercury unites with bromine in more than one proportion. A 
solution of hydrobromate ofpotassa produces with a solution of 
nitrate of protoxide of mercury a white precipitate, which re- 
sembles calomel ; and appears to be a bromide of quicksilver, 
answering to the protoxide {Hydrargyrum Bromatum, Hy- 
drargyri Protobromidum ; German, Quecksilberbromur). On 
the other hand, the bromide, which is formed by the direct union 
of bromine with mercury, corresponds probably to the peroxide. 
A white substance results, which can be sublimed by heat, is 
soluble in water, alcohol, and especially in ether ; is coloured 
red or yellow by the alkalies, and exhibits considerable resem- 
blance to corrosive sublimate [Hydrargyrum perbromatum, 
H. perbromidum, H. deutobromidum ; German, Quecksilber- 
bromid). 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The effects of these preparations on the sound and diseased 
organism are not yet well known. They have, however, been 
employed by some physicians. The protobromide strongly re- 
sembles calomel in its properties. In the dose of one or two 
grains, it produces no effect in health, even when taken fasting. 
In a higher dose — four or five grains, and upwards — it purges 
moderately, augmenting, at the same time, the secretion of 
urine. When used in recent syphilitic affections, in the way of 
friction on the gums, or internally in pill, it removes them 
like calomel ; but il does not seem to affect the mouth as speedily 
or as severely as it.* 

The deutobromide resembles bichloride of mercury in its 
action, — producing, in too strong a dose, vomiting and purging, 

♦ Bulletin General do Thcrapcutique, No. 14, Juilkst 30, 1837. 
29* 



342 HYDRARGTRI PR^PARATA. 

with colic and cramp of the stomach ; affecting the mouth, and 
exciting violent salivation.* Werneck, of Austria, has adminis- 
tered it frequently in syphilis. In recent cases he prescribes it 
in the form of pill, beginning with the one-twentieth of a grain. 
This dose he increases by one-twelfth every two days ; the 
chancres being covered at the same time with compresses, wetted 
with a solution formed of six grains of the same substance to a 
pint of distilled water, After a few days' treatment, he re- 
marked, that the sores assumed a better appearance ; and from 
twenty to thirty days were sufficient to effect their entire cica- 
trisation ; the total quantity of the bromide administered was 
about five grains. It was rarely necessary to carry it as high as 
ten or twelve grains. It has been believed that deutobromide 
of mercury is less liable to act on the salivary glands than the 
corrosive chloride, and to affect less severely the stomach and 
chest.f 

Desorgues has recommended the second (?) preparation as a 
prophylactic and curative agent in syphilis. It was doubtless, 
also — Riecke suggests — the second preparation, which was ad- 
ministered with excellent effects, by Prieger, in porri 'go favosa of 
an obstinate character. He terms the preparation bromas mer- 
curii, but the true bromate is probably insoluble in ether. ± the 
first of the following formulas is recommended by Prieger. 

Guttrc hydrargyri deutobromidi. 

Drops of deutobromide of mercury. 

R. Bromatis mercurii, (vel potius hydrargyri perbromidi,) gr. vj. 
Solve in 

jEther. sulphuric. 3iij. M. 

Dose. — Ten to twenty drops, according to the age of the pa- 
tient, daily, in water. 

K. Hydrargyr. deutobromid.gr. j. 
.<Ether. sulphuric. 5J- M. 

Dose. — Ten to twenty drops in barley water, a short time after 
taking dinner ; — in syphilis. Werneck. 

* Dr. Glover, Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. Oct. 1842. 
t Ibid. 

± Die neuern Arzneimittel, S. 261. Stuttgart, 1837, & 2te Auflage, S. 371. 
Stuttgart, 1840. 



hydrargyri cyanttretum. 343 



LXXXVII. HYDRARGYRI CYANURETUM. 

Synonymes. Hydrargyri Cyanidum, H. Prussias, H. Bicyanidum, H. Bo- 
russias, Hydrargyrum Cyanogenatum, H. Hydrocyanicum, Cyanide or 
Prussiate or Hydrocyanate or Bicyanide of Mercury. 

French. Cyanure ou Hydrocyanate ou Prussiate de Mercure. 

German. Cyanquecksilber, Blaustoffquecksilber, Blausaures Quecksilber. 

This mercurial preparation is contained in the Pharmacopoeias 
of the United States, Dublin, London, Belgium, Paris, Ferrara, 
&c. 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

According to Proust and Gay-Lussac, two parts of good and 
finely powdered Prussian blue must be boiled with one part of 
deutoxide of mercury and eight parts of water, until the mixture 
acquires a bright yellowish tint. It is then filtered, and the fil- 
tered liquor, which is the hydrocyanate of deutoxide of mercury 
— containing, however, some iron — is digested or boiled with an 
excess of deutoxide of mercury, whereby the oxide of iron is com- 
pletely precipitated. As, however, the hydrocyanate is com- 
bined with an excess of oxide of mercury, this must be satu- 
rated with free hydrocyanic acid, and the solution be evaporated 
to induce crystallisation. In this mode the cyanuret is formed. 

The formula of the Pharmacopoeia of the United States, into 
which the cyanuret has been introduced to serve in the prepara- 
tion of the hydrocyanic acid, is the same as that adopted in the 
Codex Medicament arms of Paris, which was recommended by 
Berzelius. It is as follows : ■ — 

Take of Red oxide of mercury, four ounces, or a sufficient 
quantity ; Ferrocyanuret of iron, (Prussian blue,) four ounces ; 
Distilled water, three pints. Put the .oxide of mercury and the 
ferrocyanuret of iron, previously powdered and thoroughly mixed 
together, into a glass vessel ; and pour upon them two pints of 
the distilled water. Then boil the mixture, stirring constantly, 
and if at, the end of half an hour the blue colour remains, add 
small portions of the oxide of mercury, continuing the ebullition 
until the mixture becomes of a yellowish colour ; after which filter 
through paper. Wash the residue in a pint of the distilled water, 
and filter as before. Mix the solutions, and evaporate by the 
fire till the pellicle appears ; then set the liquor aside that crystals 
may form. To purify the crystals, dissolve them again in dis- 
tilled water; filter ; evaporate the solution, and set it aside to 



344 HTDRARGYRI PR.EPARATA. 

crystallise.* Dr. Christisont does not approve of this preparation. 
He regards it to be a " needless encumbrance of the London and 
Dublin Pharmacopoeias." " It was introduced," he remarks, 
" into the latter as the source of the hydrocyanic acid ; which 
may now be obtained more cheaply, and equally well, from other 
materials." 

Schrader directs it to be prepared by mixing a solution of red 
oxide or deutoxide of mercury with hydrocyanic acid, filtering 
and evaporating.J 

Cyanuret of mercury forms white, opake, four-sided prisms, 
is inodorous, and its taste is extremely disagreeable and metallic. 
It is decomposed by heat ; is readily soluble in water, and be- 
comes converted thereby into hydrocyanate of mercury. It is 
insoluble in alcohol. 

It contains, at times, ferrocyanuret of potassa, proceeding from 
the Prussian blue, with which it has been prepared.§ 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

According to Coullon, the poisonous action of this salt is as rapid 
as that of hydrocyanic acid. A fatal case has been published 
recently. || In the dose of from two to five grains, M. Ittner 
found it produce on dogs only signs of indisposition, tremors, 
&c.Tf It is one of the substances which Magendie,** in his expe- 
riments, found to promote the coagulation of the blood. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

Parent,tt who frequently used this preparation, prefers it greatly 
to corrosive sublimate, in consequence of its greater solubility, and 
the capability of more readily affecting the organism by it. Ac- 
cording to his experience, syphilis yields more readily under its 
use than under that of any of the mercurials. He did not observe 
pains in the abdomen accompanying its protracted employment, 
which he so frequently witnessed when the corrosive chloride 

* Pharm. of the United States, p. 118. Philad. 1S42; see, also, Mr. Ellis, 
in Journal of the. Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, vi. 24. Philad. 1834-5. 

f Dispensatory, p. 519. Edinb. 1842. 

\ See a new process for its preparation, by MM. Chevallier and Deles- 
champs, in Journ. de Chimie Medicale, Janv. 1830. 

§ Orfila, Toxieologie, i. 331. 

\ Thihert, cited by Dr. Beck in Amer. Journ. of the Medical Sciences, 
April, 1842, p. 490. 

If Mcrat and I)e Lens, Diet, de Mat. Med. Art. Cyanogene. 

** Lemons sur le Sang; and translation in Loud. Lancet, Jan. 20th, 1839, 
p. 636. 

ft Journ. de Chimie Medicale, viii. 473. 



HYDRARGYRI CYANURETUM. 345 

was taken. Another advantage which it possesses, is, that it is 
not so readily decomposed. No salt, no alkali — not even caustic 
alkali — disturbs it ; neither do substances that, contain azote or 
gallic acid, which speedily convert the corrosive chloride into 
calomel. Moreover, cyanuret of mercury appears to act on 
the animal textures differently from corrosive chloride. When 
the latter is placed in contact with flesh, it becomes quickly 
changed, in part, into calomel ; whilst the cyanuret preserves the 
flesh equally well, without being decomposed. The hydrocyanic 
acid appears to play no important part in the action of the re- 
medy. According to Olivier's experiments,* the cyanuret, like 
the corrosive chloride, acts as a powerful excitant to the tissues 
on which it is applied. He saw a man destroyed by inflam- 
mation of the intestines, who had taken twenty-three grains 
of it. 

Cyanuret of mercury was first, perhaps, recommended in Italy, 
{Brera,) and Spain. Mendoza especially made many trials with 
it, from which he was induced to conclude, that it is the best 
agent we possess in venereal affections — an opinion in which 
he was joined by several of his professional brethren in Malaga. 
He advises, that laudanum should be added to it, on account of 
its liability to excite vomiting. When too large doses were 
administered, or when the patient was unusually impressible, 
Mendoza found that the nervous system became especially dis- 
ordered — as indicated by syncope, oppression, anxiety, and 
convulsions. Chaussier, likewise, as well as Thaer and Horn, 
proposed the cyanuret as a remedial agent at an early period. 
On the other hand, Wendt, Cullerier, and Plisson complain of 
its little efficacy ; whence it has been inferred that the preparation 
must differ.t 

NeumannJ advises it in chronic inflammation of the lungs, 
and of the membranous organs of the chest, and abdomen, and 
of the ovaries. In particular cases, its use has to be soon pre- 
termitted, in consequence of its powerful action on the salivary 
glands, even in small doses — as one-eighth of a grain three times 
a day. In other cases, it can be continued long without the 
supervention of any unpleasant consequences. In the Charite, 
at Berlin, it was used with advantage in a case of obstinate 
cephalalgia, the origin of which was syphilitic. 

Biett has employed it externally — in the form of the ointment 
given below — in humid tetter, accompanied with inflammation 
and itching. Parent recommends it to be applied in chancre, 

* Journ de Chimie Medicale, i. 2f>9. 

t Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. S. 261. Stuttgart, 1837, & 2te 
Auflaoe, S. 376. Stuttgart, 1840. 

| Iiufeland und Osann's Journal, lv. 66. 



346 HYDRARGYRI PRJEPARATA. 

and Brera uses it in solution, as a gargle, in syphilitic ulcera- 
tion of the fauces. 

Such is the chief testimony recorded in favour of the medical 
action of the cyanuret of mercury. Dr. Christison* thinks, that 
" the few trials hitherto made of its effects in diseases scarcely 
justify its introduction as a remedy." Although, however, it 
has been but little used in Great Britain, many trials have been 
made with it on the continent of Europe more especially. 



MODE OP ADMINISTERING. 

Cyanuret of mercury may be given in pills or in solution; Horn 
prescribed it in powder, but this form is less appropriate. The 
dose is from one-sixteenth of a grain to a grain, several times a 
day. As a gargle, half a grain to a grain may be dissolved in 
5}. of water; as an ointment, from one and a half to two grains 
to 3j- of lard. Chaussier used it in friction on the soles of the feet, 
in the same way as the corrosive chloride. 

Liquor liy drargyri eyanureti. 
Solution of cyanuret of mercury. 

(Liqueur Antisyphilitique de Chaussier.) 

R. Hydrargyri cyanur. gr. viij. 
Aquae destillat. Oj. 

Each ounce contains half a grain of the cyanuret. 

Chaussier^ and Parent. 

R. Hydrarg. cyanuret. ^ss. 
Solve in 

Aq. destillat. Oj. 
Aide 

Tincturae opii, 3j. M. 

Dose. — Morning and evening, a spoonful, in a decoction of 
sarsaparilla or barley. Mendoza and Parent. 

* Ibid. 

f Rattier, Formulaire Pratique des Hopitaux Civils de Paris, 3eme edit. 
Paris, 1827. 



HYDRARGYRI CYANURETUM. 



347 



Pilulae hydr argyri cyannreti. 

Pills of cyanurel of mercury. 

EL Hydrarg. cyanuret. gr. v. 
Opii,9ss. 

Micse panis, Jj- 

Mellis, q. s. ut fiant pilulae xcvj. 

Dose. — One to four, three times a day. 



Parent. 



Gargarisma hydrargyri cyannreti, 
Gargle of cyanuret of mercury. 

EL Hydrarg. cyanur. ^ss. 

Decoct, ten. sem. lini, (vel rad. althsese,) Oj. 
M. et fiat gargarisma. 

R. Hydrarg. cyanur. J^ss. 
Decoct, hordei, Oj. 
Mellis rosas, §j. M. et fiat gargarisma. 



Parent. 



Brera. 



Brcra. 



Unguentnm hydrargyri cyanureti. 

Ointment of cyanuret of mercury. 

BL Hydrarg. cyanur. gr. xij. 

Adipis, §j. M. ut fiat unguentum. 

EL Hydrarg. cyanur. gr. xvj. 
Adipis, gj. 
01. limonis, gtt. xv. M. 



From half a dram to a dram, to be rubbed in, in cases of tetter. 

Biett. 

An ointment of this strength is used by Dr. Strohl, of Strasburg, 
as a dressing for chancres." 

* Gaz. M6d. de Strasburg, No. 15. and 17 ; and Encycl. des Sciences 
Med. Sept. 1841, p. 525. 



348 HYDRARGYRI PR^PARATA. 



LXXXVIII. HYDRAR'GYRI IO'DIDUM. 

Synonymes. Hydrargyri Proto-iodidum, H. Proto-ioduretum, Hydrargyrum 
Iodatum flavum. H. Iodidum, H. Iodidulatum H. Iodatnm, (in contradistinc- 
tion to the Periodatum,) Iodidum Hydrargyrosum, Hydrargyri Proto-iodi- 
dum, Protiodide, Proto-iodide or Proto-ioduret of Mercury. 

French. Proto-iodure de Mercure. 

German. Gelbes Iodquecksilber, Gelbes Quecksilberiodid, Protoiodiir des 
Quecksilbers, Quecksilberiodidul, Iodquecksilber im minimum des Iods. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

According to Tunnermarm, the best method of preparing the 
iodide is the following : — Take of Nitrate of protoxide of mer- 
cury (not tinged yellow by the admixture of nitrate of peroxide), 
28.25 parts, and of Iodide of potassium, 16.5 parts; rub them 
together for some minutes in the dry state, and afterwards with 
a little Distilled water, gradually adding the water so as to dis- 
solve the saltpetre formed. The mixture is then passed through 
the filter, and the yellowish-green precipitate of iodide of mer- 
cury is well washed, and dried by a gentle heat. 

The objection to this process is the difficulty of obtaining the 
mercurial salt at a minimum of oxidation, and the consequent 
liability of the resulting compound to contain uncertain quan- 
tities of the red iodide. M. Boutigny,* to avoid these disadvan- 
tages, recommends the following form : — Take of Mild chloride 
of mercury, three ounces and five drams ; Iodide of potassium, 
two ounces and four drams : pulverise the iodide in a glass mor- 
tar, and add the calomel ; place the mixture in a porcelain cap- 
sule, and pour over it ten or twelve ounces of boiling distilled 
water. After cooling, decant the fluid, collect the precipitate on 
a filter, and wash with distilled water. Dry in the shade, and 
keep in a well-stopped bottle. 

The iodide, thus prepared, may, according to M. Boutigny, 
sometimes contain a minute portion of mercury or the mild 
chloride, but the quantity of either is so small as to be of no 
moment. 

In the London and United States Pharmacopoeias, it is pre- 
pared by rubbing together an ounce of mercury and five drams 
of iodine, adding gradually as much alcohol as may be sufficient 
until globules are no longer visible. The powder is dried imrae- 

* Bullet. General de Therapeutique, and Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy, 2d vol. 
2d series, p. 326. Philad. 1837. 



HTDRARGTRI IODIDTTM. 349 

diately by a gentle heat, access of light being excluded; and it is 
kept in a well-stopped vessel.* 

Iodide of mercury, according to Thomson, consists of 250 parts 
of mercury, and 156 parts of iodine. It has a greenish-yellow 
colour, and is a preparation holding the same relation to iodine 
and mercury, that the mild chloride holds to chlorine and mer- 
cury ; it is more volatile, however, than the mild chloride, but 
like it is almost insoluble in water. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

This preparation has been less used than the red iodide to be 
described next. Tiinnermann remarks, as the results of his ex- 
perience, that its action in respect to the mercury, is analogous 
to that of the mild chloride, except that it appears to excite 
more the lymphatic and glandular systems. When given in 
conjunction with a generous animal diet, he found it very effi- 
cacious in a case of scrophulosis, where colliquative sweats had 
appeared ; and in a second case, also, it rendered essential ser- 
vice. In one of the cases, he gave it internally in the dose of 
from one-twelfth to half a grain, three times a day ; in the 
other, of from half a grain to a grain. He directed it also 
to be rubbed, in the form of ointment, on tumefied glands of the 
neck. Pelletan likewise found it serviceable in the cure of obsti- 
nate glandular swellings, when used in the form of ointment in 
combination with morphia, as well as in cases of obstruction of 
the liver. Biett recommends an ointment of the iodide in the 
treatment of chi*onic venereal ulcers, the cicatrisation of which 
it expedites ; Lugolt advises it in phagedenic scrophulous ulcers, 
which present a syphilitic aspect ; and PoiretJ recommends it 
strongly in cases of psoriasis ; the patient using, at the same 
time, simple alkaline or vapour baths alternately. According to 
the experience of Ilicord,§ in the syphilitic affections of children, 
especially of a cutaneous character, it is to be preferred to other 
forms of mercurial, and is not apt to be followed by the bad 
effects, which, in adults, often supervene on the use of other 
preparations.|| 

* Pharm. of the United States, p. 119. Pliilad. 1842. 

f Essays oh the Effects of Iodine in Scrophulous Diseases, &c, by Dr. 
O'Shaughnessy, p. 170. Lund. 1831. 

% Gazette des Hopitaux, Juillet 20, 1837; see, also, Bulletin General deThe- 
rapeutique, Juillet, 1837 ; and C. A. Porter, M.D., in American Journal of the 
Med. Sciences, Nov. 1839, p. G8. 

§ La Lancette Franchise, No. 65, 1834. 

|| Cogswell's Essay on Iodine, p. 158. Edinb. 1837. See, also, Ricord, 
Practical Treatise on Venereal Diseases, translated by Drummond, Philad. 
1843. 

30 



350 HYDRARGYRI PRiEFARATA. 



METHOD OF ADMINISTERING. 

On account of its insolubility, it is given only in the form of 
powder or pill, to the extent of from a grain, gradually carried 
to three or four twice or thrice a day. Externally, it is applied, 
for the same reasons, in the form of ointment only. 

Pilulae hydrargyri iodidi. 

Pills of the iodide of mercury. 

R. Hydrarg. iodidi, Jj. 

Confect. rosEe caninae, Jiij. 
Zingiberis pulv. Jj. M. 

Pharmac. London. 

Pilnlae hydrargyri iodidi composite. 

Compound pills of iodide of mercury. 

R. Hydrarg. iodid. gr. vj. 
Extract, opii, gr. iv. 
Lactucarii, gr. xxiv. 
Ext. guaiac. gr. xlviij. 
M. Fiant pilulae xlviij. 

Dose. — For a child, half a year old, one pill ; for older chil- 
dren, two, three, or four. In the syphilis of children. 

Ricord. 

R. Hydrarg. iodid. gr.j. 
Ext. junip. gr. xij. 
Pulv. glycyrrhiz. q. s. 
Divide in pulv. viij. 

Dose. — At first, two, morning and evening ; afterwards, three 
or four. Magendie and Biett. 

R. Hydrargyri iodid. ^ij. 
Guaiac. pulv. Jj. 
Thridac. gss. M. et divide in pil. xlviij. 

Dose. — One a day in scrophula, and syphilis, &c. 

Biett* 

* A. Duhamel, Amer. Journ. of Pharm. July, 1841, p. 105. 



HYDRAKGTRI IODIDTTM. 351 

Pulveres hydrargyri iodidi. 
Powders of the iodide of mercury. 

R. Hydrarg. iodid. gr. i. (iv., vj., vel viij.) 
Magnes. Jj. 
M. et divide in part. xij. 

Dose. — A powder, three times a day. 

Ungnentum hydrargyri iodidi. 

Ointment of iodide of mercury. 

R. Hydrarg. iodid. gr. vj. 
Morphiae acetat. gr. viij. 
Adipis, ^j. M. 

In obstinate glandular swellings. Pelletan. 

R. Hydrarg. iodid. 9j. 
Adipis, ^iss.* M. 

In old venereal ulcers. Magendie and Beitt. 

R. Hydrarg. iodid. ^ij. (vel iij., vel iv.) 
Adipis, sij. M. 

As a dressing to phagedenic and scrophulous ulcers. 

Lugol. 

When this salve is first prepared, it is of a canary-yellow, 
sometimes of a greenish colour. By time, it becomes of an orange 
hue, when it must be thrown aside, as, owing to the formation of 
the red iodide, it has become as corrosive as the ointment of the 
corrosive chloride. 

R. Hydrarg. iodid. Jj- 
Adipis, 3j. M. 

To be rubbed morning and evening on the parts affected. 

Poiret. 

* Tunnermann uses only 58s. 



352 HYDRARGYRI PR.EPARATA. 

Unguent um hy drargyri iodidi. 

Ointment of iodide of mercury. 

R. Hydrargyr. iodid. §j. 
Cerae albae, §ij. 
Adipis, 3vj. M. 



Lond. Pharm. 



LXXXIX. HYDRARGYRI IO'DIDUM RUBRUM. 

Synonymes. Hydrargyri Deuto-iodidum, H. Deuto-Ioduretum, H. Per- 
iodidum, Hydrargyrum Iodatum Rubrum, H. Biniodidum, H. Periodatum, 
Iodidum Hydrargyricum, Red Iodide, Deutiodide, Biniodide or Periodide of 
Mercury. 

French. Deuto-Iodide de Mercure, Periodure de Mercure. 

German. Rothes Iodquecksilber, lodquecksilber im Maximum, Quecksilber- 
iodid, Deuto-Iodiir des Quecksilbers. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

The process of the Pharmacopoeia of the United States 
consists in dissolving an ounce of corrosive chloride of mer- 
cury in a pint and a half of distilled ivater ; and ten drams of 
iodide of potassium, in half a pint of distilled water. The solu- 
tions are then mixed, and the precipitate is collected on a 
filter, washed with distilled water, dried with a moderate heat, 
and kept in a well-stopped bottle. 

The following is the process recommended in the London 
Pharmacopoeia : — An ounce of mercury and ten drams of iodine 
are to be rubbed together, alcohol being gradually added until 
the globules are no longer visible. The powder is to be dried 
with a gentle heat, and kept in a well-stopped vessel. 

The Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia triturates two ounces of mer- 
cury with two ounces and a half of iodine, adding occasionally 
a little alcohol till a uniform red powder is obtained. The pro- 
duct is reduced to fine powder, and dissolved in a concentrated 
solution — a gallon by measure — of chloride of sodium, with 
the aid of brisk ebullition. It is then filtered, if necessary, through 
calico, keeping the funnel hot. The crystals, which form on 
cooling, are then washed and dried. 

Red iodide of mercury is a beautiful vermilion-coloured pow- 
der, which, when moderately heated, becomes yellow, but, when 



HYDRARGYRI IODIDUM RUBRUM. 353 

exposed to the air, is gradually restored to red, and is volatilised. 
When volatilised, it crystallises in beautiful rhornboidal leaves, 
which, at a higher temperature, are of a golden- yellow hue ; 
but at the ordinary temperature of a shining red. The red iodide 
is insoluble in water; but soluble in alcohol and ether; and in 
solutions of iodide of potassium, and of chloride of sodium. It 
contains 250 parts of mercury, and 312 of iodine. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

This preparation, which was introduced into practice by the 
French physicians, has been particularly recommended msyphilis 
complicated with scrophula. Biett found it very efficacious in scro- 
phulo-venereal ulcers, in syphilitic swellings of the lymphatic 
glands, and in inveterate itch. He administered it also internally, 
dissolved in alcohol or ether,in scrophulous affections complicated 
with syphilis, and with advantage. In its effects, it resembles the 
corrosive chloride, whilst the iodide resembles the mild chloride. 
Rayer,* indeed, considers the red iodide more active than the 
corrosive chloride. Paillard found it very efficacious in chronic 
cutaneous eruptions. He dipped a camel's hair pencil in a weak 
solution of the red iodide in ether, and penciled the parts with it 
three or four times a day. In this way, he cured several squa- 
mous, tuberculous, and other eruptions, exciting scarcely any 
pain. As, however, this mode of applying it often failed, he em- 
ployed 3j- mixed with^j. of oil of almonds in the same manner. 
If the corrosive action was considerable, a sense of heat soon 
arose in the part, which gradually terminated in burning pain. 
The neighbouring parts were also hot, painful, and tumefied ; 
and, in the course of an hour, an effusion of serum took place ; 
but, in four or five hours, the pain always disappeared. If ap- 
plied on the cheeks or lips, salivation at times ensued suddenly. 
Scabs formed, which fell off in a few days, and exposed a red 
surface much disposed to cicatrise. When frequently applied, 
symptoms occurred, which were probably the consequences of its 
being absorbed, — namely, fever, colic, diarrhoea, and dysentery. 
Breschetf applied it, in the form of ointment, with great success in 
a case of obstinate ulceration, presumed to be carcinomatous, at 
the angle of the eye. Blasius advises it internally and externally 
in lupus, and it has been recommended highly by Dr. J. W. 
Schmidt, Junr., of New York,J in cases of the same affection, 

* Treatise on Skin Diseases, by Dr. Willis, p. 79. See, also, Puche, Jour- 
nal des Connaissances Medicales, Oct. et Nov. 1838, and Janvier, 1839. 
■j- Lugol's Essays on Iodine, by O'Shauglinessy, p. 204. 
\ American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Feb. 1840, p. 301. 
30* 



354 HYDRARGYRI PRJEPARATA. 

and especially in the dartre venerienne. Both the iodide and 
the red iodide were given internally. These cases, as well as 
syphilitic sore throat of long standing, which had been previ- 
ously treated by mercury without success, Dr. Schmidt found to 
yield invariably to a pill of a quarter of a grain of the protoio- 
dide, and a grain of Extractuni Conii, given night and morning, 
and afterwards three times daily. After using these pills for 
from four to eight weeks, he substitutes the solution of iodide of 
potassium, — changing, in the first place, the action of the parts by 
cauterizing the throat with the solid argenti nitras. Dr. Schmidt 
has not found it necessary to carry the iodide so far as to touch 
the mouth, but should it accidentally do so, he stops the mercury, 
and goes on with the iodide of potassium. Tunnermann used it 
with advantage, in the form of ointment, for the removal of fu- 
runcular inflammation of the glands of the neck. Riecke,* like- 
wise, employed it, with great success, as a discutient, (gr. xvj. to 
3}. of lard,) in a case of ganglion in the region of 'the knee, from 
which violent pain proceeded along the nerves when it was 
pressed upon — and in two cases of goitre. Whenever it has to 
be applied over an extensive surface, as in the disease last men- 
tioned, it has generally to be discontinued soon, in consequence 
of the supervention of inflammation of the cutaneous surface. 

In the form of a weak ointment — composed of red iodide 
gr. ij., cerate 9ij., almond oil 9j. — it has been used in opacity of 
the corneaA 

Kopp has published some favourable cases of the therapeuti- 
cal application of the red iodide. The ointment, given below, 
he found very efficacious in luxuriant, chronic, scrophulous, and 
syphilitic sores, as well as in condylomata, and venereal blotches. 
Not less useful did he find it in many other skin diseases, and 
particularly in herpes. In one case, in which he administered 
it in the last affection, he found a coexistent goitre, which had 
been there for several years, almost wholly disappear ; and he, 
consequently, afterwards prescribed it frequently for the latter 
affection. He also used it, with excellent effect, in ophthalmia 
tarsi, and, where there was a disposition to the formation ofhor-* 
deolum,a.\\n\e of the second ointment, the form for which is 
given hereafter, was applied at bed-time to the edges of the eye- 
lids. Lastly, he advises friction with the first ointment in 
chronic rheumatic pains, and in cases of induration of the 
glands, especially of the liver. After the friction has been con- 
tinued for some time, an eruption occasionally appears. 

The Author has frequently administered the red iodide in pub- 

* Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. S. 270. 

t Grafe und Waltlier's Journ. fur Chirurg. Bd. xiii., cited by Pereira, Ele- 
ments of Materia Medica, 2d edit. i. 762. Lond. 1842. 



HYDRARGYRI IODIDUM RTJRUM. 355 

lie and in private practice, in cases where an active modifier of 
the system of nutrition appeared to be needed, and where a com- 
bination of remedies so potent as mercury and iodine suggested 
itself. In chronic glandular enlargements, especially of the 
liver and spleen, and in habits where the use of mercury was 
not contraindicated, both the red iodide and the iodide have, in 
his hands, proved extremely serviceable. Perhaps there are no 
preparations, which, under the circumstances in question, merit 
more attention. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Red iodide of mercury is given internally in the form of pow- 
der or pill, or dissolved in alcohol or ether, in the dose of one- 
sixteenth to one-fourth of a grain, gradually increased daily. 
Externally, it is applied in the form of ointment. 

Pilulse hydrargyri iodidi rubri. 

Pills of red iodide of mercury. 

R. Hydrarg. iodid. rubr. in syrup, commun. 
pauxill. terendo bene distribuend. gr. v. 
Micse panis alb. 
Sacch. pulv. aa. q. s. ut riant pilulae lx. 

Dose. — Two, morning and evening, drinking afterwards a 
cupful of oatmeal gruel. The dose to be raised gradually. 

Blasius. 

Tinctnra hydrargyri iodidi rubri. 

Tincture of red iodide of mercury. 

R. Hydrarg. iodid. rubr. 9j. 

Alcohol, 36° (.837) f.giss. M. 

Dose. — Ten to twenty drops, in a glass of distilled water. 

Magendie and Biett. 

Syrnpus hydrargyri iodidi rubri compositns. 

Compound syrup of red iodide of mercury. 

\\. llydrargyr. iodid. rubr. gram. i. (gr. 15,44 Troy.) 
Potass, iodid. gram. 50. 
Aquae, gram. 50. 
Dissolve, filter through paper, and add 

Syrup. (30° when cold), gram. 2400. 



356 HYDRARGYRI PRjEPARATA. 

A tablespoonful of this syrup is a dose. It represents, pro- 
vided it holds 25 grammes of the syrup, a centigramme of red 
iodide of mercury, and 50 centigrammes of iodide of potassium. 

Gibert* 



jEther sulphuricus com hydrargyri iodido rubro. 

Sulphuric ether with red iodide of mercury. 

R. Hydrarg. iodid. rubr. £)j. 

iEther. sulphur, f.jiss. M. 

Administered like the last. Magendie and Biett. 

Ungnentum hydrargyri iodidi rubri. 

Ointment of red iodide of mercury. 

R. Hydrarg. iodid. rubr. in pulv. subtiliss. gr. vj. 
Adipis, Jvj. M. 

Kopp. 

R. Hydrargyr. iodid. rubr. in pulv. subtilissim. gr. \ to \. 
Adipis, ^ij. 
Cera albas, gr. ij. 
M. fiat unguentum. 

For an eye salve. Kopp. 

R. Hydrargyri iodid. rubr. gr. xv. 
Adipis, 3ss. 
M. exactissime. Fiat ung. 

As a dressing in lupus. Blasius. 

R. Hydrarg. iodid. rubr. gr. xv. 
Adipis, |ij. 
01. berganiot. gtt. x. M. 

To be rubbed on the parts in chronic cutaneous affections. 

Biett. 

R. Hydrarg. iodid. rubr. 9j. 
Adipis, ^iss. M. 

Biett. 

To be spread thin on lint in old venereal ulcerations. 

The Unguentum Hydrargyri Biniodidi, of the London Col- 
lege, is prepared like the Ung. Hydrarg. Iodidi (p. 352). 

* Journal de Pharmacie, Oct. 1841, p. 634. 






HYDRARGYRI ET ARSENICI IODIDUM. 357 



XC. HYDRARGYRI ET ARSEN'ICI IO'DIDTJM. 

Synonymes. Arsenici et Hydrargyri lodidum, Hydriodas Arsenici et Hy- 
drargyri; Iodide or Hydriodate of Mercury and Arsenic, Double Iodide of 
Arsenic and Mercury, lodo-arsenite of Mercury. 

Mr. Donovan* has proposed this new compound, which he 
regards as more efficacious than either the Iodide of Mercury or 
the Iodide of Arsenic. 

METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Triturate 6.08 grains of finely levigated arsenious acid ; 15.3S 
grains of mercury, and 50 of iodine, with one dram, by mea- 
sure, of alcohol, until the mass has become dry, and, from being 
deep brown, has become pale red. Pour on eight ounces of 
distilled water; and after trituration for a few moments, transfer 
the whole to a flask ; add half a dram of hydriodic acid, prepared 
by the acidification of two grains of iodine, and boil for a few 
moments. When the solution is cold, if there be any deficiency 
of the original eight ounces, make it up exactly to that measure 
with distilled water. Finally filter. 

By the long continued trituration of arsenic, mercury, iodine, 
and alcohol, the metals are converted into iodides, which combine. 
The mass, by solution in water, is converted into a hydriodate 
of arsenic and mercury. The quantities of the two metals are so 
adjusted, that, when converted into protoxides by decomposition 
of a portion of the water in which they are dissolved, there will 
be eight grains of protoxide of arsenic, and sixteen of protoxide 
of mercury. The quantity of water is such, that each dram by 
measure of the solution will contain exactly one-eighth of a grain 
of protoxide of arsenic, and one-fourth of a grain of protoxide of 
mercury. Mr. Donovan conceives, that the quantity of mercury 
ought to be double that of the arsenic, in order to insure a slow, 
and moderate, yet adequate mercurial action, along with the 
proper effect of the arsenic. 

Of the preparation, above described, and which Mr. Donovan 
calls Liquor Hydriodatis .Irsenici et Hydrargyria each dram by 
measure consists of water, one dram ; protoxide of arsenic, one- 
eighth of a grain ; protoxide of mercury, one-fourth of a grain ; 

* Dublin Journal of Medical Science, Nov. 1839, p. 281. See, also, M. 
Soubeiran, December, 1841, p. 744 ; and Mr. Donovan, Dublin Journal, Nov. 
1842, p. 171. 



35S HTDRARGYRI PRJEPARATA. 

iodine, converted into hydriodic acid, four-fifths of a grain. The 
colour of the solution is yellow, with a pale tinge of green ; its 
taste is slightly styptic. It is incompatible with tincture of 
opium, or with sulphate, muriate, or acetate of morphia. 

The test of the perfection of the preparation, according to Mr. 
Donovan,* is, that the whole of the iodine, arsenic and mercury 
shall disappear, and be dissolved during the process of preparing 
it. This cannot happen unless the three elements employed have 
been chemically pure, and unless the trituration has been suffi- 
ciently long continued. The colour, a short time after the liquor 
has been prepared, should be golden-yellow, and the specific 
gravity, 1.02. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Numerous trials have been recently made with this preparation 
in cutaneous diseases, especially in psoriasis, lepra and lupus ; 
and the testimony of some of the most eminent of Mr. Donovan's 
countrymen has been brought forward in its favour. Mr. Car- 
michael has given it in five or six cases of lupus, and in one of 
psoriasis, with decided benefit.! Mr. Colles administered it in 
two extreme cases of scrophulous ulceration in the adult with 
some benefit : Dr. Croker gave it internally and applied it exter- 
nally with complete success in a case of psoriasis guttata : Dr. 
Graves treated a very inveterate case of psoriasis with decided 
advantage ; Dr. Irvine completely cured a most virulent case of 
the same affection by the internal use of it ; Mr. Cusack found, 
that venereal eruptions yielded rapidly to half dram doses, three 
times a day ; and Sir Henry Marsh had a case of impetigo 
Jigurata, of strumous origin, covering the face, chest, arms, and 
thighs, but particularly well marked at the flexures of all the 
joints, which was cured by the administration of fifteen minims, 
twice a day, gradually increased to one scruple, and finally to 
half a dram. The treatment was cautiously pursued, for some- 
what less than a month, with a gradual amendment of the dis- 
ease, which subsequently disappeared entirely. 

Since those cases were published, Mr. Donovan has given 
numerous others from the practice of Dr. Charles O'Reilly, Sir 
Henry Marsh, Dr. Robert J. Hickson, Dr. J. D. White, Mr. 
Richard Jones, Dr. Bigger, Mr. O'Ferrall, Dr. Ferguson, Dr. Os- 
brey, Dr. W. T. Hamilton, Dr. Graves, Dr. Kirby, Mr. Gabriel 
Stokes, and Dr. C. P. Croker, which lead him to infer, that the 
diseases, in which the preparation has been found of most ser- 

* Ibid. Sept. 1840, p. 106. 

f Dublin Medical Press, Jan. 18, 1840. 






HYDRARGYRI ET ARSENICI IODIDUM. 359 

vice, are the various forms of psoriasis, impetigo, porrigo, lepra, 
venereal eruptions — both papular and scaly — pityriasis, sycosis, 
ephelis, lupus, sibbens, and some uterine diseases.*' 
In several of the cases, slight ptyalism was induced. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The dose of the Liquor Hydriodatis Arsenici et Hydrargyri is 
from fifteen minims to half a fluidram, two or three times a 
day. Mr. Donovan! recommends the following form : — 



Hanstns liquoris hydriodatis arsenici et hydrargyri. 
Draught of the solution ofhydriodate of arsenic and mercury. 

R. Liq. Hydriodat. Arsenic, et Hydrarg. 3ij« 
Aquae destillat. giiiss. 
Syrup, zingib. §ss. M. 
Divide in haustus iv. 

Dose. — A draught, night and morning. 

The division into draughts, Mr. Donovan considers neces- 
sary, — first, to insure accuracy of the dose ; and next to pre- 
vent injury to the ingredients by the use of a metallic spoon, as 
a measure ; — the general way in which doses of medicines are 
administered. 

When applied externally in cutaneous affections it may be di- 
luted with an equal portion of water, or farther — should a weaker 
lotion be indicated. 

Mr. Donovan states, that the employment of this preparation 
is rapidly extending, as shown by the fact, that within two years 
and a half, about three hundred pints of it have been sent out 
of his establishment alone, which — as he properly remarks — 
is a vast quantity of an article prescribed in minim doses.j 

* Dublin Journal of Medical Science, Nov. 1842, p. 199. 
f Ibid. Nov. 1839, p. 282. 
X Ibid. Nov. 1812, p. 199. 



350 INDIGUM. 



XCI. INDIGUM. 



Stnonymes. Indicum, Indicus Color, Pigmentum Indicum, Indigo. 
German. Indig. 

This well-known colouring material is obtained from several 
species of the genus Indigofera (I. tinctoria, I. anil, I. disper- 
ma, I. argentea,a.nd I. hirsuta), belonging to the Natural Fa- 
mily Leguminosae, and, in the Linnaean System, to Diadelphia 
Decandria. As we receive it, it is in small, solid, brittle masses, 
of a deep azure colour, without smell or taste, and assuming a 
coppery lustre on being rubbed. It is entirely soluble in sul- 
phuric acid, and is wholly consumed on burning coals. Accord- 
ing to the analysis of Chevreul, 100 parts of Guatemala indigo 
of commerce contain only 45 parts of pure indigo, or indigo-blue 
— with which no therapeutical experiments have as yet been 
made : the greater part of the residue consists of a green matter 
soluble in spirit of wine {indigo-green); and a red resin {indigo- 
red) ; the rest is extractive matter, gum, and some carbonate of 
lime, oxide of iron, argillaceous and siliceous earth. With hy- 
drogen, pure indigo forms isatic acid, which has considerable 
resemblance to the hydrocyanic. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The natives of the countries, where the different kinds of indigo 
grow, employ it occasionally as a therapeutical agent, especially 
in diarrhoea and intermittent fever. It is only within the last 
few years that attention has been paid to it in Europe. Professor 
Von Stahly,* of Ofen, appears to have first employed it with 
success in various spasmodic diseases, especially in epilepsy. 
To these cases Lenhossek alludes, in detailing certain trials which 
he himself had made with it. In 1833, Grossheimtmade known 
a case, in which he found it extremely useful. A lady, twenty- 
eight years of age, had suffered for eleven years with violent 
hysterical convulsive attacks, for which she had employed almost 
every remedial agent. The attacks began with a feeling of hea- 
viness over the whole body, with slight convulsive twitchings 
of the limbs, which extended to the trunk, and were followed 
by total, or almost total, loss of consciousness : this, after an un- 

* Hecker's neue Annalen, B. i. H. 1. Berlin, 1835. 
| Mediscinische Zeitung, No. 51, 1833. 



INDIGUM. 361 

certain period, terminated in a comatose state, from which she was 
gradually restored — but in a languid condition — to perfect con- 
sciousness. Under the use of indigo for half a year, with pedi- 
luvia — which had been previously employed without advan- 
tage — she completely recovered. 

These results gave occasion to the institution of experiments, 
touching the remedial properties of indigo,in the Charite at Berlin, 
the results of which have been given by Roth.* In most of the 
cases, the indigo excited nausea, and even vomiting, preceded by 
a metallic taste on the tongue. At times, the vomiting was 
so violent and prolonged, that it was necessary to discontinue. 
it ; but generally on continuing its use, the vomiting ceased 
in three or four days, and diarrhoea took its place. All the pa- 
tients did not vomit, and many escaped the diarrhoea. When 
once diarrhoea occurred, however, it commonly persisted as long 
as the indigo was used. The evacuations were seldom entirely 
fluid, but usually semifluid, and of a dark bluish-black colour. 
While the vomiting and purging continued, more or less uneasi- 
ness was experienced in the digestive apparatus. The vomiting 
and diarrhoea were frequently accompanied by pains in the sto- 
mach and bowels, which were commonly slight, but occasionally 
so violent that the indigo had to be discontinued. In every pa- 
tient at the Charite, the urine was of a dark violet hue. Stanly 
affirmed, that the perspiration was coloured blue, but this Roth 
never observed. He remarked, moreover, that after the use of 
indigo for several weeks, certain patients were easily thrown into 
slight convulsions, similar to those caused by the use of nitrate 
of strychnia, and that they were affected with slight subsultus 
tendinum. Almost all the patients, indeed, who took indigo, 
were at first more frequently attacked with spasms than prior to 
the use of the remedy. In the beginning, the attacks of the dis- 
ease were, in all cases, stronger, but of less duration, than previ- 
ous to its employment. These changes continued for one, two, 
three, and even as long as eight weeks, whether the patients took 
small or large doses. At the expiration of this time, all the epilep- 
tic symptoms were diminished in intensity and duration, until the 
last attacks were mere premonitions. 

The number of epileptic cases, treated by indigo, which Roth 
had an opportunity of observing in the Charite, was twenty-six ; 
of these nine were cured, eleven improved, and six remained. 

Dr. Idcler,t who instituted the experiments at the Charite, has 
also given publicity to the results ; and his testimony accords 
with that of Roth. It is proper to observe, however, that, of the 
nine cases cured, three experienced relapses in from eight to 

• Hecker's ncue Annalen, B. i. Heft. 1. Berlin, 1835. 
f Medicinische Zeitung, No. vi. and Lancet, June 6, 1835. 
31 



362 INDIGUM. 

twelve months ; but from causes, according to Riecke,* which 
of themselves might have induced epilepsy. 

Dr. Strahl,t of Berlin, likewise experimented with indigo, but 
his results were by no means favourable. In ten cases of old. 
standing epilepsy, it was not of the slightest service, and the same 
may be said of two cases of St. Vitus' s dance. In four cases of 
hysteria, it excited violent nephralgia, and in one of the cases 
only, after the affection of the kidney was removed, was the pa- 
tient cured. It acted, however, signally on the uterus ; in two 
cases of spasmodic affections, complicated with a?nenon , hcea, 
the latter derangement was removed, whilst the spasms still con- 
tinued, even after the recurrence of the catamenia. In the Cha- 
rite of Berlin, the purest Guatemala indigo of commerce was 
used, and it has been a question, whether Strahl did not employ 
one of feebler powers. It is worthy of remark, that he observed 
a dark green colour of the urine during its use, whilst in the cases 
in the Charite a dark violet hue was constantly noticed. 

Favourable cases are also detailed by Drs. Mankiewicz, of 
Nackel4 and Hohnhorst, of Frankfort. § 

Dr. Noble, of Versailles,|| administered it in three cases, in 
which the disease had continued for four, twelve, and twenty 
years respectively. At the time of making known the results, a 
month had elapsed in the first case, and two months in the second, 
since an attack had been experienced, and the last case he con- 
sidered entirely cured. In the first patient, who was eighteen 
years old, four drams occasioned vertigo, slight depravation of 
vision, and convulsions similar to those produced by strychnia; 
and in both the other cases, diarrhoea was induced, which ceased, 
however, as soon as the indigo was discontinued or the dose re- 
duced one-half. He gave it in the dose of one dram gradually 
increased to four drams daily. 

The observations of Rech,of Montpellier, were not as favour- 
able to it. In none of the epileptics to whom he gave it was 
there any thing more than a slight amelioration. In the Hospice 
d'Hommes Incurables du Faubourg St. Martin, trials were also 
made with it by Dr. Blanche. Of ten cases, five were either 
cured or improved. One of these had existed for three years, 
and the paroxysms recurred every five or six days ; but after the 
administration of the indigo, he had no return at the expiration 
of five months ; in a second case, a youth fifteen years old — 

* Op. cit. S. 276, and 2te Auflage, S. 389. Stuttgart, 1840. 

f Hecker's Neue wissenschaftliche Annalen, 1836; and Edinb. Med. and 
Surg. Journal, 1837. 

X Medicin. Zeitung. Mai 31, 1837, S. 109. 

§ Ibid. S. 110, and Medicin. Zeitung des Vereins fur Heilkunde in Preus- 
sen, 1837, No. 22. 

|| Bulletin General deTherapeutique, 1836. 



INDIGUM. 363 

who had been epileptic from birth, and had regularly one or two 
paroxysms a day, from the 19th of July, when the exhibition of 
the indigo was begun with, until the middle of August, when the 
results were published — had only two insignificant attacks. 
The improvement in the other three cases was not as marked, 
yet it was unquestionable. The other five children experienced 
no improvement, yet no inconvenience was sustained, although 
the indigo was given in doses of four, six, and eight drams in the 
day. It was administered in water or in a tisane ; and in one or 
two cases it excited vomiting, but after having been discontinued, 
it was borne subsequently. In all it induced tormina, and acted 
upon the bowels, but did not interfere with the appetite or any of 
the other functions. 

Dr. Benjamin F. Hardy,* one of the senior resident physicians 
at the Philadelphia Hospital, published the results of some trials 
made with indigo, which, so far as they go, confirm its anti- 
paroxysmal power. Two of the seven cases reported were ap- 
parently cured, two ameliorated, and three without any decisive 
results — the medicine not having been continued perhaps for 
a sufficient length of time. In these cases, it was commenced 
in the dose of 3j., which was usually doubled daily until the pa- 
tient took gij^ daily, which quantity was persevered in for some 
weeks. In some of the cases, the faeces, urine, and perspiration 
were all coloured blue. 

In other trials, instituted in the same excellent charity, with 
the indigo, the results were not as favourable.t It is obvious, 
indeed, that a wide difference must exist amongst cases of epi- 
lepsy, and that where the organic modifications are considerable, 
as indicated by concomitant mania or idiocy, little can be expect- 
ed from any remedy ; but even in such hopeless cases, the num- 
ber of paroxysms appears to have diminished under its use. 
Where the cerebral affection is slight and more functional than 
organic, indigo, like artemisia and other remedies extolled 
in epilepsy, may be useful. Its main efficacy, perhaps — as 
has been said of the Ferri Subcarbonas (p. 308) — consists in 
the new impression which it makes, in adequate doses, upon 
the nerves of the stomach, and through them upon those of the 
whole system ; but to effect the revulsion to the proper extent, it 
is necessary, that the dose should be augmented day by day, and 
the remedy be continued in large doses for a sufficient length of 
time. 

Dr. Pereira^ Btates, that he has tried it in a considerable num- 

Dunirlison's American Medical Intelligencer, for July 15, 1839, p. 122. 

+ f)r. William II. McKee, in Dunglison's Airier. Mod. Intelligencer, Sept. 
16, 1839, p. 177. 

% Elements of Materia Mcdica, &c, 2d edit. p. 1C20, Lond. 1812 ; or Amer. 
edit, by Dr. Carson, Pliilad. 1843. 



364 INJECTIONS INTO THE EUSTACHIAN TUBE. 

ber of epileptic cases at the London Hospital, but without deriv- 
ing the least benefit from it. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

As indigo is extremely light, the powder is too bulky for admi- 
nistration ; it is taken with disgust, and is apt to excite vomiting. 
On this account, the form of electuary was selected in the Charite. 
It was generally combined with the Pulvis aromaticus, or the 
Pulvis ipecacuanha? et opii. As to the dose, Roth advises, that 
it should be commenced in grains but be elevated to drams, — nay 
even to one or more ounces in the day. In the Charite, the fol- 
lowing formulae were generally employed : — 

Pulvis i n di g i. 

Powder of indigo. 

R. Indig. in pulv. subtilissim. ^ss. 

Pulv. aromat. gr. v. M. et fiat pulvis. 

A powder to be given four times a day. 

Electuarium indigi. 

Electuary of indigo. 

R. Indig. pulv. aquae guttis nonnullis subact. 3ij. — gss. 
Pulv. aromat. Jss. 
Syr. simpl. f.Jj. 
M. et fiat electuarium. 

To be used in the course of the day. Ideler. 



XCII. INJECTIONS OF AIR, VAPOUR OF ETHER, ETC., 
INTO THE EUSTACHIAN TUBE. 

An important improvement in the understanding and treat- 
ment of diseases of the ear has resulted from the attention that 
has been paid, of late, to the pathological condition of the Eusta- 
chian tube, and the means through it of rectifying certain morbid 
states of the organ of hearing. A mystery has been thrown, or 






INJECTIONS INTO THE EUSTACHIAN TUBE. 365 

attempted to be thrown, over the diseases of the ear, and as a 
consequence, they have furnished largely to empiricism ; so that 
an exclusive aurist has been, too often, perhaps, esteemed synony- 
mous with an exclusive empiric. Now, that the physiology of 
the outer and middle ear is better understood, their pathological 
relations are no longer environed with the same difficulties. The 
attention of the surgeon has to be first directed to the meatus 
externus, and if he discovers any obstacle, — as hardened ceru- 
men, — which prevents the vibrations of a sonorous body from 
reaching the membrana tympani, such obstacle must be re- 
moved. Should no defect exist there, he inquires into the state 
of the Eustachian tube, to detect, whether it be pervious so as 
to permit a free passage for the air from the throat to the middle 
ear — any impediment to which is a common cause of deafness; 
and, lastly, if the tube be found in a state of integrity, his atten- 
tion is turned to the condition of the nerve, to discover whether 
the defect — organic or functional — be seated there. Such are 
the main subjects of investigation in cases of deafness; although 
the condition of the membrana tympani, of the ossicles, and the 
mastoid cells become interesting incidental objects of inquiry. 

Chronic inflammation of the Eustachian tube occasionally 
gives rise to stricture or narrowness of the tube ; at others, to 
obstruction of the tube by means of mucus, or to accumulation of 
mucus in the tympanic cavities. In the former case, catheterism 
is demanded ; in the latter, injections of air, in addition. 

For the purpose of catheterism, various instruments have been 
employed. The catheter of Itard is a conical silver tube, curved 
at the extremity, with a slight enlargement to prevent laceration 
of the membrane. Kramer's instrument is a modification of 
that of Itard ; the curve is more gradual, and the enlarged or 
button point is omitted. It is made of silver, six inches long, 
and is of a calibre varying from the size of a small crow-quill 
to that of a large goose-quill. The extremity is well rounded, 
and it is curved only to the distance of five lines from the point, 
exactly at an angle of 144°, so as to correspond to the lateral 




(Reduced one-half.) 



situation of the mouth of the Eustachian tube. It is of the same 
calibre throughout its whole length, and provided with a funnel- 



31 



366 



INJECTIONS INTO THE EUSTACHIAN TUBE. 



shaped dilatation at the outer extremity, half an inch in length, 
to admit the pipe of the injecting syringe, &c. To this part is 
attached a ring, on the same level with the beak of the catheter, 
by means of which the situation of the beak can be ascertained, 
when the instrument is introduced. 

The catheter is farther graduated in inches, which is conve- 
nient in repeated introductions.* 

When it is requisite to sound the Eustachian tube, a piece of 
catgut may be passed through the instrument. 

The catheter recommended by Mr. Pilchert admits of being 
passed farther into the tube, and has a more gradual curve. 

DeleauJ employs a flexible elastic gum catheter, which the 
patient learns readily to pass into the Eustachian tube, and by 
turning down the outer extremity, is able to inflate the tube 
with his own breath. This the author has seen repeatedly done. 

The silver instrument, slightly warmed and oiled, is intro- 
duced, with its convexity upwards, along the floor of the nos- 
trils until the point reaches the pharynx ; it is then gently turned, 
so that the point shall be outwards and a little upwards, the 
aperture of the Eustachian tube being above the level of the 
floor of the nose : in this way, the tube enters, and is readily 
felt by the operator to have done so. The instrument, is then 
carried onwards, until its farther progress is prevented by the 
narrowness of the tube. Mr. Pilcher's instrument is of such 
dimensions as to frequently occupy three-quarters of an inch of 
the tube ; but if it be pushed beyond the fibrocartilaginous por- 
tion — or that part of the tube which readily admits it — the 
mucous membrane may be lacerated, and pain will certainly be 
produced.§ 

When Mr. Pilcher's catheter is fairly introduced, it will re- 
main without support, an advantage it possesses— in the opinion 
of its proposer — over those of Itard and Kramer, which require 
a frontal bandage to retain them in situ. Itard's bandage is re- 




presented in the accompanying figure. It consists of a middle 
piece made of metal, bent so as to fit the arch of the forehead, 

* Kramer, on Diseases of the Ear, chap. 2, Amer. Med. Library Edit. Philad. 
1838. 

t A Treatise on the Structure, Economy and Diseases of the Ear, p. 304. 
Lond. 1838. 

t Op. cit. p. 305. 

§ Op. cit. p. 305. 



INJECTIONS INTO THE EUSTACHIAN TUBE. 



367 



and slightly padded within ; to this are attached two straps, 
which fasten with a buckle. To the centre of the middle piece, 
a pair of forceps are attached, which move in a ball and socket 
joint, and the blades of which are brought together by a screw. 
The bandage is applied before the catheterism is commenced ; 
and when the instrument is introduced, the forceps are brought 
down, and screwed tight on the catheter, so as to retain it in 
position. 

Through the catheter, thus introduced, aurists were in the 
habit of sending lukewarm water through the Eustachian tube 
into the cavity of the tympanum ;* but owing to certain objections 
that apply to the employment of fluids, Deleaut suggested the 
air-douche or injections of air for the purpose of clearing the 
cavity ; and this is regarded by Kramer \ as a great improve- 
ment. With the view of increasing and regulating the force 
with which the air is sent into the. cavity, both these gentlemen 
invented air-presses or condensers. The marginal figure repre- 
sents that of Kramer. 



c b is a cylinder, 10J inches 
high, made of molten brass; the 
diameter of its calibre is \\ 
inches, and it is fastened at b 
with strong screws, on a strong 
oaken stand of the height of an 
ordinary stool. Within the 
cylinder c b is a pump barrel of 
wrought brass screwed into it, 
which measures 10^ inches in 
height, and 2£ inches in diame- 
ter, rising at d a 3 inches out of 
the cylinder, so that the whole 
machine a 4 is about 13 inches 
high. In the piston of the pump 
barrel, there is a valve for the 
passage of the air, which besides 
passes in at the opening situate 
at d. There is a second valve 
in the bottom of the pump barrel, 
through which the air is forced 
into the interior of the cylinder. 

When air is injected into the tympanum, it may be heard to 
strike against the membrane, and to rush through the cavity into 
the mastoid cells, and thus may become a means of exploring the 
condition of the middle ear. 

* Sec some cases of deafness relieved in this way, by Dr. John H. Dix, in 
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, Sept. 25, 1839, p. 105. 

f Sur le Cath.terisrno de la trompe d'Kustache, &c. Paris, 1828 ; Itard in 
M£m. de l'Acadi'm. Koyale de Medccine, Tom. v. Fasc. 4, Paris, 1836 ; and 
translation in Medical and Surgical Monographs, vol. i. p. 75, of Dunglison's 
Amer. Med. Library, p. SO, Philad. 1838. 

X Op. citat. p. 164. 




36S INJECTIONS INTO THE EUSTACHIAN TUBE. 

Mr. Pilcher* observes, that — from his daily experience of 
the great facility with which air and fluids may be introduced 
into the tympanum, and regulated, both as to quantity and force, 
by means of a common syringe accurately fitted to the catheter 
— he does not hesitate to declare his conviction, that the ceremony 
and inconvenience of the air-press may be dispensed with. He 
recommends that the operator should merely steady the instru- 
ment with his left hand, whilst he uses the syringe with his right. 
By this means, any fluid or gas injected through the catheter, 
may be brought into contact with the mucous membrane, and 
thus stimulate the nerves of the cavity. Nor is the air-press en- 
tirely devoid of danger. Inflammation and even suppuration is 
sometimes caused by the air douche. This occurred, in seven 
cases, to M. Itard; and Mr. Henry Savaget refers to five cases, 
which came under his cognizance, where perfect deliquium was 
caused, which continued for several hours. A case, too, has been 
detailed in which, after "pumping air" four times through the 
nostrils into the Eustachian tube, immediately on removing the 
instrument from the nostril, the patient fell back in the chair and 
never spoke afterwaids.J The sudden shock to the nervous 
system was probably the cause of death ; and it has been sug- 
gested, that to avoid too great a degree of pressure, the nozzle 
of the tube of the air-press should be held, during the operation, 
so loosely in the dilated end of the catheter, that there may be 
room for air to regurgitate ;§ and likewise, that instead of sending 
in the air by douches or charges — it should be transmitted in a 
gentle and continued stream. 

Another circumstance, which shows the importance of care, is 
the fact, that the mucous membrane may be ruptured, and seri- 
ous emphysematous tumefaction be occasioned. 

It is proper to observe, that the results of 258 cases, treated 
by Itard, || are far from encouraging. Of these, but two of cure 
are said to have been effected, and in this result, according to Itard, 
other causes occurred ; whence he infers, first, that as a means 
of exploring obstructions of the tympanum by the crepitation, 
which often accompanies them, douches of air can afford no cer- 
tain index ; and secondly, that as a mechanical agent for deter- 
ging or evacuating obstructing matters, they can only dislodge and 
force them together ; and, consequently, that both in the second 

♦Op.cit P 307. 

t Lond. Med. G.iz , for Jul v 20, 1839, p. C16. Dr. M. Lynch, in Lancet, Aug.3, 
1839, p. 683, and Ibid. p. 690 ; and Dr. Joseph Williams, Treatise on the Ear; 
including its Anatomy. Physinloory and Pathology, &c. p. 242. Lond. 1840. 

I London Med. GuzpMp. July (i, 1839, p. 538, and Dunglison's American 
Medical Intelligencer, Aug. 15, 1839, p. 150. 

\ British and Foreign Medical Review, July, 1839, p. 95. 

i Op. chat. 



INJECTIONS INTO THE EUSTACHIAN TUBE. 



369 



and first point of view, douches of air do not deserve the con- 
fidence of the profession.* 

The vapour of acetous ether has recently been injected into 
the middle ear, in cases of nervous deafness, of which Kramerf 
makes two varieties ; noise in the ear constituting the essential 
point of difference between them. This noise belongs, without 
exception, to the erethitic form ; whilst it is foreign to the torpid. 
Incases of nervous deafness, Itard proposed to introduce ethereous 
vapour through the catheter, and to generate this vapour in an 
apparatus, in which the ether is dropped on a saucer of red hot 
iron, by the heat of which it is vaporised. The ether is, how- 
ever, decomposed in this manner, so that it is not etherous vapour 
which enters the tympanum,. but an acrid very irritating kind of 
gas, which, according to Kramer, is well suited to the torpid form 
of nervous deafness, but is positively injurious in the erethitic 
variety. He considers the attempt to vaporise acetous ether in 
a flask, placed in warm water, and connected by means of a tube 
with the cavity of the tympanum, to belong to the same class of 
methods, which act in too irritating and injurious a manner, 
owing to the vapour being 
given off far too rapidly. This 
inconvenience he proposes to 
remedy in the erethitic form 
of nervous deafness, in the 
following way: — A large 
glass flask — represented in 
the accompanying figure — 
holding about ten quarts, is 
firmly and closely -stopped 
with a cork through which 
are passed two brass tubes, 
each provided with a cock ; 
one of these tubes is connect- 
ed above with a funnel for 
dropping in the fluid, and the 
other with an air-tight tube 
to conduct the vapour, gene- 
rated and enclosed within 
(he flask, into the cavity of 
the tympanum. When the 
apparatus is to be used, the 
cork is to bo firmly fixed into 
the neck of the llask, with the two tubes attached, and the cocks 
closed ; the proper quantity of ether is then to be poured into the 

* See, on this subject, Mr. T. Wharton Jones, in Lond. Med. Gaz., Auff. 3 
10, 17, and 24 : 1839. 6 

f Op. citat. 211. 




370 



INJECTIONS INTO THE EUSTACHIAN TUBE. 



funnel, and forced into the flask by a gentle expiration, where it 
is converted into thin vapour at the ordinary temperature of the 
room. This vapour fills the interior of the flask equably, and is, 
indeed, in a state of slight condensation, so that when the me- 
tallic tip of the tube is connected with the catheter, and the cock 
is opened, the vapour issues with a whizzing sound. 

Having previously introduced the catheter, through the nose, 
into the mouth of the Eustachian tube, and placed it in con- 
nexion with the tube of the vapour apparatus, the patient is to sit 
near a table, leaning his arm upon it, and with the correspond- 
ing hand he is to hold the tube of the apparatus, in such manner 
that it may remain in close connexion with the catheter. Each 
sitting occupies a quarter of an hour, and is repeated daily, apply- 
ing the vapour alternately to the right and to the left ear. 

It is unnecessary to make use of warm water to pour into the 
flask, as the ordinary temperature of the room is sufficient to vapo- 
rise the ether. 

In the torpid form of nervous deafness, this method of proce- 
dure does not answer, owing to the necessity for greater excita- 
tion than it is capable of effecting. In such case, a modification 
of the apparatus of Itard has been proposed by Kramer. Owing 
to the metallic saucer in Itard's becoming cool more than once 
during a single sitting, and requiring to be exchanged for a hot 
one, as a necessary consequence the temperature of the vapour 
generated never remains, for a moment, the same, but varies ex- 
tremely ; immediately after the insertion of the red-hot saucer, 




the vapour issues burning hot into the ear, and in a few minutes 
sinks to a very low temperature. These evils Kramer proposes 
to rectify in the following manner : — For the floor on which the 
bell-glass of the apparatus rests a thin metal plate is substituted, 



IODINUM. 371 

which is warmed, at pleasure, by an oil lamp placed beneath, so 
that, the ethereous fluid falling on it is thus conducted through the 
catheter into the middle ear. Through the cover of the appa- 
ratus, a thermometer, with a metallic scale, passes down almost 
to the bottom, and indicates the temperature at which the ethe- 
reous vapour passes into the ear. 

After a sitting or two — if the individual is to be benefited 
by the plan — in either form of deafness, an improvement ought 
to be perceptible. 

This course of treatment, aided, occasionally, by attention to 
the state of the system, has, in Kramer's hands, been attended 
with satisfactory results, and has been adopted with advantage 
by others with a more or less modified apparatus.* 

A case, of the successful application of the acetous ether in ere- 
thitic deafness, has been published by Dr. Bolton, of Richmond, 
Virginia.! The hearing distance was amazingly improved by 
it, and the success far exceeded the operator's most sanguine 
expectations. 

The vapour proves, however, at times too irritating, or occa- 
sions results by no means to be desired. The Author was applied 
to in one case in consequence of inflammation having supervened 
in the mucous membrane, which subsequently extended, in the 
erysipelatous form, over the cutaneous surface. It yielded to 
appropriate treatment. 



XCIII. IO'DINUM. 

Synonvmes. Iodinium, Iodium, Iodum, Iodina, Iodine. 
French, lode. 
German. Iod. 

Iodine was accidentally discovered, in the year 1S12, by Cour- 
tois, a manufacturer of saltpetre at Paris, but it was chiefly 
through the labours of Gay-Lussac and Sir Humphry Davy,J 
that the chemical relations of this elementary body were appre- 
ciated. The discoverer first detected it in the mother waters of 
soda obtained from sea-weed ; and as it was found to exist chiefly 
in several of the sea-weeds, and especially in the sponges, it 

* Pilcher, Op. cit. |>. .TIB. See some observations on this subject, with two 
by no mean9 satisfactory cases, by Mr. T. Wharton Jones, in London Med. 
Gazette, for Aug. 31, and Sep. 7, 1839. 

f Dunglison's American Medical Intelligencer, April 1, 1839, p. 1. 

X Annales de Chimie, lxxxviii. xc. and torn, xci., and Philos. Transact. 
1814 and 1815. 



372 I0DINUM. 

struck Coindet,* that experiments might be made with it in 
goitre : from these he obtained such striking results that its 
reputation soon spread abroad, and it was employed in various 
other diseases, — often with the most marked advantage. By 
experience, too, the injurious effects which it is by many con- 
sidered capable of inducing were appreciated, so that it could be 
administered more satisfactorily than at an earlier period. 

By the continued investigations of the chemist, iodine was 
found to be more largely distributed than was at first imagined. 
It was discovered in many of the marine mollusca, in sea-water, 
and in several mineral waters. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Iodine is obtained from the mother waters of the soda derived 
from sea-plants, in which it exists — it is believed — in the form of 
iodide of sodium. The waters are procured by burning differ- 
ent kinds of weeds which grow on the sea-shore, lixiviating the 
ashes, and concentrating the liquor. To obtain iodine from this 
liquor, an excess of concentrated sulphuric acid is added to it, and 
the whole is boiled gently in a glass retort furnished with a re- 
ceiver. The sulphuric acid lays hold of the basis of the hydri- 
odic salt, and of the hydrogen of the hydriodic acid ; whence 
result sulphate of soda, water, sulphurous acid and iodine ; the 
last passing over into the receiver in violet fumes with a little 
acid, and there becoming condensed. To purify the iodine, it 
may be washed with water, containing a little potassa, and be 
redistilled.f 

It is manufactured in large quantity in Scotland, from the 
kelp of the Hebrides and Orkney Islands.:): According to Dr. 
Traill, the greatest quantity is produced by kelp, made from 
driftweed, which is in a great measure composed of Fucus digi- 
tatus, andF. Lorcus ; — cat weed, which consists of F. vesiculosas 
and F. serratus, yielding much less of it. One hundred tons of 
Caithness kelp afford, according to the experience of a manu- 
facturer, one thousand pounds of iodine, or about a 224th part.§ 
It is always prepared on the large scale, and hence is placed in 
the Materia Medica list of the Pharmacopoeia of the United 
States. 

Iodine is solid at the ordinary temperature, of a foliated ap- 

* Bibliotheque Universelle, Tuillet, 1820, p. 190. 

f For the method employed by Soubeiran, see Journal de Pharmacie, Jan- 
vier, 1837 ; and for that by Barruel, see Bussy, Ibid. 

X Christison, Dispensatory, p. 552, Edinb. 1842 ; and the Author's General 
Therapeutics and Mat. Med. ii. 312, Philad. 1843. 

§ Christison, loc. cit. 



IODINUM. 373 

pearance, metallic lustre ; of a grayish or bluish-black colour 
similar to that of plumbago, and friable. It is soluble in 7000 
parts of water, and the solution has an orange-yellow colour. Its 
specific gravity is 4.946 at 62° of Fahrenheit. Its smell is simi- 
lar to that of chlorine, with which it accords in its property of 
destroying vegetable colours. It possesses, in a high degree, 
electro-negative properties. It colours the skin yellow, which 
colour gradually disappears. It fuses at 220° Fahrenheit. The 
vapour is of a beautiful violet colour, whence its name («a<f»5. 
'blue'). It is soluble in ether and in alcohol; forms an acid 
both with oxygen and hydrogen, and enters into numerous che- 
mical combinations.* 

In consequence of its high price, iodine is very liable to adul- 
teration ; and it is said, that coal, black lead, oxide of manganese, 
and charcoal, have been added to it ; but neither Dr. Christisont 
nor Dr. PereiraJ has met with any of these impurities, which 
would remain behind when heat was applied, and admit, there- 
fore, of easy detection. Water is the chief adulterant, and its 
unusual presence may be suspected if the iodine adheres to the 
sides of the bottle in which it is kept. Dr. Christison states, that 
until within the eighteen months before he wrote, he had not 
met with any British iodine, that did not contain between 15 and 
20 per cent, of water. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

Soon after the discovery of iodine, and the accurate investiga- 
tions of Gay-Lussac, Magendie§ instituted a series of experi- 
ments in order to appreciate its action on the animal organism. 
It was injected into the veins without any apparent effect. Se- 
veral dogs were made to swallow it : they vomited, but it exert- 
ed no farther influence. He himself swallowed a coffee-spoonful 
of the tincture, and perceived no other result than a disagree- 
able taste, which continued for several hours, but gradually dis- 
appeared. In larger doses, however, the effects were markedly 
injurious. Orfila|| likewise instituted several experiments on 
dogs, from which lie concludes : — that iodine, introduced into 
the stomach in moderate quantity, acts as a gentle stimulant, 
but may excite vomiting: — that in the dose of a dram, it almost 
always killed the animal in four or five days, when the oesophagus 

* See, on Iodine and its Combinations, Mr. Duhamel, in Philad. Journal of 
Pharmacy, vi. 101. Philad. 1823-4. 
f Dispensatory, p. 553. Edinb. 1842. 

X Elements of Mat. Med. and Therap. i. 235. Lond. 1842; orAmer. edit by 
Dr. Carson, i. 225. Philad. 1843. 
§ Formulaire pour la preparation, &c. dc plusieurs nouveaux Medicamens. 
H Toxicologic, i. 556. 
32 



374 IODINUM. 

had been tied to prevent vomiting, and that in the part of the mu- 
cous membrane, with which it came in contact, ulcers were gra- 
dually formed ; — that when administered in the dose of from two 
to three drams, the oesophagus not being tied, it excited vomit- 
ing for several hours, even when a part of the poison had been 
evacuated by the bowels ; — that it seldom caused death when 
given in the dose of one or two drams, the animal rejecting it by 
repeated vomiting; that it does not destroy life when applied 
externally, and that it must be classed amongst the irritant poi- 
sons. Dr. Cogswell,* — in repeating one of Orfila's experiments, 
in which seventy-two grains of iodine were introduced into a 
wound on the back of a dog without much effect on the health 
of the animal, — did not attain exactly the same results. He in- 
troduced a scruple of iodine into the cellular tissue of the thigh 
of an adult rabbit, through a small opening made in the skin. 
The animal manifested no symptom of pain, and was able to 
make use of the limb as freely as before the operation, but, in 
the course of a fortnight, it gradually lost flesh, exhibiting an ema- 
ciated look, and the hair dropped off from many parts of the 
head. At the end of this time, thick adhesive pus was found 
distending the cavity of the wound, from which the iodine had 
entirely disappeared. Dr. Cogswell properly suggests, however, 
the possibility, that the irritation of a large abscess might have 
been the sole origin of the animal's unhealthy appearance. 

To discover the effects, which it induces on man, Orfila took 
two grains fasting. An extremely disagreeable taste, with some 
nausea, was the only consequence. On the next day, early, he. 
took four grains, when he immediately experienced a sense of 
constriction and heat in the throat, which continued for a quar- 
ter of an hour ; soon afterwards he vomited a liquid yellowish 
matter, in which iodine was easily perceptible. Except a slight 
degree of oppression felt during the day, he observed no change 
in any of the functions. On the second day thereafter, he took 
six grains fasting, after which, he soon experienced a sense of 
heat, constriction of the throat, nausea, eructation, increased 
flow of saliva, and pain at the pit of the stomach ; ten minutes 
afterwards, he was attacked with copious bilious vomiting, and 
slight colic pains, which continued for an hour, and were re- 
moved by two emollient glysters. The pulse, which, prior to 
the experiments, beat sixty times in the minute, became more 
frequent, beating from eighty-three to ninety, and was much 
stronger. The breathing was tolerably free ; but from time to 
time, there appeared to be a great obstacle to the dilatation of 
the chest on inspiration. The urine was higher coloured. All 
the symptoms were removed by the copious use of gum water as 
drink, and of emollient glysters. 

* Experimental Essay on Iodine and its Compounds. By C. Cogswell, 
A.B..M.D. p. 21. Edinb. 1837. 



IODINTJM. 375 

Dr. Gully, however, says, that he has given as much as three 
drams of the tincture daily, and did not observe any effect. Dr. 
Kennedy,* of Glasgow, exhibited, within eighty days, nine hun- 
dred and fifty-three grains of iodine in the form of tincture, the 
doses having been so proportioned, that towards the last, the 
patient — a girl — did not seem to be in any way particularly 
affected ; and Dr. Buchanant gave half an ounce of iodide of 
potassium within twelve hours, without any unpleasant result, 
provided diluents were largely taken at the same time. See 

POTASSII IODIDUM. 

It has been conceived, that where iodine proves mischievous, 
it is owing to its being in a free state, and that it then operates 
as a corrosive poison. The tincture of iodine, and the ioduret- 
ted iodides, are esteemed objectionable on this account.;): 

It does not appear, that the vapours of iodine exert any inju- 
rious effect on the workmen concerned in its preparation. § 

From experiments, instituted by Jorg|| on himself and on other 
healthy individuals, it appeared to him, that iodine, first of all, 
acts as a stimulant on the intestinal canal ; soon afterwards, it 
excites, also, the different glands in the cavity of the mouth and 
stomach, the pancreas, the liver, and even the urinary and genital 
organs. An afflux of blood to the respiratory organs likewise 
ensues, which extends even as far as the Schneiderian mem- 
brane. There is no doubt whatever, that the iodine enters into 
the blood, and, in this way, doubtless produces its modifications 
on the system of nutrition. Two drams, according to Dr. Bu- 
chanan,^ were given to a young man labouring under gonorrhoea, 
and, as soon as the medicine made its appearance in the urine, 
blood was drawn from the arm. On examining it, both the 
serum and the crassamentum were found deeply impregnated 
with iodine. The same dose was given to a boy affected with 
dropsy of the knee-joint. About five hours after the dose had 
been taken, a very small puncture was made into the joint, and 
upwards of twelve ounces of synovia were drawn off by a cup- 
ping-glass. The synovia contained iodine in abundance. To 
an old man, who had a very large hydrocele, two drams of 
iodide of potassium were given over night, and the same, quan- 
tity the following morning ; on tapping him some hours after 
he had taken the last dose, more than thirty ounces of serum 
were drawn off, containing a large quantity of iodine.** 

* Lond. Med. Repository for 182-2. 

f Lond. Med. Gazette, July, 1836. See, also, Fuster, in Bullet. General 
Th^rap. Fev. 1837, and Sep. 1837. 

\ Brande's Dictionary of the Materia Medica, p. 323. Lond. 1839. 

§ A. Chevallier, Annales d'Hytjiene Public). &c. Avril, 1842. 

|| Materialen zu einer kiinft. I leilrnittellehre, u. s. w. i. 473. 1824. 

If Op. cit. 

** Brande, Op. citat. p. 321, Lond. 1839. See, also, M. Cantu, in Journal 
de Cliimie M<-dicale, ii. 291 and 391 ; and Bennerscheidt, Ibid. iv. 383. 



376 IODINTJM. 

Dr. Gairdner* observed the action of iodine on the human body 
when administered in particular doses, and pointed out the disad- 
vantages attendant upon an improvident use of the article. The 
moststrikinginconvenienc.es were induced in the digestive organs : 
it excited diarrhosa, and, at times, obstinate constipation ; gastro- 
dynia and violent vomiting, especially when food was received 
into the stomach. 

The emaciation occasioned by it, is, according to some, a stri- 
king phenomenon, and may attain an incredible extent; yet itis 
proper to remark, that Lugol,t in his frequent employment of 
iodine in scrofula, never observed this result : he affirms, indeed, 
that emaciated patients became stronger under its use ; that the 
stout did not grow leaner, and that they who held the medium 
position, in these respects, acquired strength under its employ- 
ment, — results which have been confirmed by others,! and which 
would, therefore, seem to show that this, as well as some of the 
other unpleasant effects ascribed to iodine may have been owing 
to an incautious use of the article. 

In addition to the above phenomena, Dr. Gairdner noticed 
anxiety, depression of spirits, and other symptoms similar to those 
of hypochondriasis ; obscurity of vision ; hardness of hearing ; 
palpitations ; and tremors of the limbs, particularly of the hands, 
which last symptom indicated the full effect of iodine on the con- 
stitution. Dr. Gairdner found, however, that the remedy was 
extremely variable in its effects ; and that it might frequently be 
given in large doses, for a long time, without disadvantage ; whilst 
at other times, the unpleasant symptoms supervened rapidly, 
indicating that much must depend upon the peculiar impressi- 
bility of the individual. 

Coindet,§ who, as already remarked, first used iodine as a the- 
rapeutical agent, speaks of many of the above-mentioned phe- 
nomena as resulting from its administration: these he considers 
evidences of the saturation of the organism, as the effect on the 
mouth is an index of the same thing in the case of mercury. 
It appears, however, to be never necessary, in the administration 
of iodine, to induce saturation of the organism, in order that the 
full sanative influence of the remedy shall be elicited. On the 
contrary, it seems to be advisable to avoid such saturation ; and 
accordingly, whenever there are the slightest indications of it, 
the dose of iodine should be diminished, or it should be discon- 
tinued for a time ; after which — according to the results of 

* Essay on the Effects of Iodine, &c. Lond. 1824. 

f Memoire sur l'emploi de l'lode dans les Maladies Scrofuleuses. Paris. 
1829; and Observations on the Effects of Iodine, p. 17, Johnson's translation. 
Lond. 1824. 

X B. Phillips, Lond. Med. Gazette, Jan. 10, 1840. 

§ Bibliotheque Universelle, Mars, Avril, Mai, et Septembre, 1821. 



I0DINTTM. 377 

numerous cases — its curative agency, when it is resumed, is 
exerted afresh, and more decidedly. Several physicians, indeed, 
advise that frequent intermissions should be made in the use of 
the agent, in order that its action may be more certain. 

According to the observations of Coindet and Formey, iodine, 
when administered internally, occasions increase of appetite ; 
but no influence is perceptible on the condition of the bowels 
and urinary organs ; or on the perspiratory apparatus. On the 
other hand, when breathed for a few instants, the vapours of 
iodine caused twice in M. Chevallier* violent colic, which readily 
yielded to gum water and laudanum. Raspail, however, under 
analogous circumstances, experienced no other inconvenience 
than a disagreeable taste in the back part of the mouth. Accord- 
ing to Lugol, the vapour, disengaged from tincture of iodine 
poured into the water of a bath, is liable to induce a state of 
" iodic intoxication" and even of cerebral congestion. He 
affirms, that it exerted a powerful diuretic influence on all his 
patients, the urinary secretion being so much augmented, that 
many of them, contrary to their usual habit, were compelled to 
rise from bed several times in the night to discharge their urine. 
In upwards of a third, it had a cathartic effect, producing six or 
seven evacuations in the day, and occasionally tormina. In seve- 
ral, ptyalism ensued. Others, and especially females, complained 
of gastrodynia, which was always removed by the wine of cin- 
chona, of which two or three ounces were taken shortly after 
the iodine. 

Dr. Manson,t who used the tincture of iodine, found it occa- 
sionally produce sickness of stomach, and Mr. Delisser affirms, 
that, in two months, he gave one thousand and nineteen grains 
of iodine to a female affected with cancer of the mamma, — the 
doses, at certain periods, amounting to thirty grains in the twenty- 
four hours. The consequences were anorexia, quick pulse, ulcer- 
ation of the mouth, and fcetor of the breath ; of a different kind, 
however, from that which arises from mercury. 

It would appear, that the effects of the remedy vary according 
to the form in which it is administered, and it is proper to observe, 
in viewing the different results obtained by Lugol and Coindet, 
that the latter commonly gave the tincture, whilst the former 
prescribed the solution in water, with a little chloride of sodium. 
Lugol observes, that the appetite of his patients was very much 
increased by it. E;iger, who likewise administered the watery 
solution, rarely observed diarrhoea and emaciation : in general, 
indeed, the appetite and nutrition improved under it. At times, 
ulceration took place in the mouth, whereby the breath assumed, 

* Journ. GSntl-ral de Med. ciii. 33G. 

+ Medical Researches on the 12 flee ta of Iodine-. Lond. 1825. 
32* 



37S IODINUM. 

a mercurial fostor ; and salivation has been observed from it, 
according to Manson,* Winslow,t Ely.J Mackall,§ Sir F. W. 
Smith. || and others ; but RieekeTI suggests, that this, perhaps, only- 
occurred in those, who, along with the use of iodine internally, 
had employed iodide of mercury externally. On the genital organs, 
Eager found it act as an excitant : it augmented the activity 
of the uterus, and rendered the catemenia more abundant. It is 
asserted, too, to have increased the sexual appetite, but this is 
questionable : during its use, indeed, the testes in men, and the 
mammae in women, have been observed to disappear :** but this, 
as will be seen hereafter, is certainly not a common occurrence.tt 
It has been imagined to cause sterility. Two cases are detailed 
by Dr. Robert H. Rivers.JJ in which barrenness succeeded its 
administration. Magendie, on giving it as an emmenagogue 
to a young lady of unsuspected virtue, brought on abortion. §§ 
Krimer several times observed, even when the tincture was given 
in small doses, considerable metrorrhagia, epistaxis, haemop- 
tysis, obstinate diarrhoea, leucorrhcea, &c, supervene under 
its use. 

Dr. J. B. Biddle|||| exhibited five grains of the iodide of potas- 
sium, four times a day, to a female patient, aged 35. After thirty- 
five grains had been taken, he was suddenly called, and found her 
suffering from intense cephalalgia, considerable nervous disturb- 
ance, nausea, and remarkable tumefaction of the whole face. 

JahnHH found, in the bodies of two persons who had long made 
use of it, wasting of the fat ; softness and laxity of all the organs 
and tissues ; diminution and disappearance of the glands, and 
glandiform bodies, — the mesenteric glands, suprarenal capsules, 
&c, — and the cellular tissue appeared to exist in smaller quan- 
tity. In the case of a female, who died from the excessive use 
of the tincture, Zinck*** found the bowels inflated with gas ; in 

* Op. chat. p. 61. 

f Lond. Med. Gaz. for 1836, p. 401. 

j Ibid. p. 480. 

§ Medico-Chirurg. Review, Jan. 1836. 

| Dublin Journal of Med. Science, July, 1840, and Jan. 1841. 

f Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. S. 282. 

** Christison, Treatise on Poisons, p. 180 ; Cogswell on Iodine, p. 47 ; 
Edinb. 1837. 

ft Pereira, in Lond Med. Gaz. vol. xvii. ; and Diet, de Mat. Med. parMerat 
and De Lens, Art. lode. 

XX American Journal ofthe Medical Sciences, Aug. 1831, p. 546. 

§§ Formulary, Gully's edit. p. 105. 

Illl Philad. Med. Examiner, Jan. 29, 1842, p. 65. See, also, Dr. R. Coates, 
Ibid. ; Dr. J. C. L. Carson, New York Med. Gaz. Dec 1, 1841, p. 333, and the 
Report of a Conversation on the occasional Injurious Effects of Iodine, at the 
London University College Med. Society, in Philad. Med. Examiner, Jan. 15, 
1842, p. 48. 

%^ Archiv. fur medicin. Erfahrung, i. 342, 1829; and Journal Complement, 
du Diet, des Sciences Medicales, xxxv. 362. 

**• Journ. Complem. du Diet, des Sciences Medicales, xviii. 231. 



I0DINTJM. 379 

some parts, highly inflamed ; in others, exhibiting an approach 
to sphacelation, both within and without : the inner membrane 
of the stomach displayed redness, growing deeper from the car- 
diac towards the pyloric orifice, where the organ looked as if it 
had undergone corrosion ; the liver was large and reddened ; 
and there was ecchymosis of the spleen. Dr. Christison* is of 
opinion, that iodine is capable of inflaming the latter organ. 

The Author has administered iodine very freely, but he has 
seldom seen unpleasant symptoms ensue, which he was disposed 
to refer to it ; with the exception of such as so nauseous an arti- 
cle was likely to cause on the stomach ;t yet from the testimony 
of many observers, it can scarcely be doubted that the iodine 
disease, or iodosis, iodinia, or iodism, as it has been termed, 
may become dangerous to life : generally, it is not really so 
much so as it appears — and is considered — to be, and the evil 
consequences may be readily avoided by proper foresight. 
Cases, however, are related, in which its use seemed to have 
been followed by fatal results ;% hence, the necessity of circum- 
spection in the employment of so energetic a therapeutical 
agent. 

Under the idea, that the unpleasant symptoms, which the 
iodides of potassium and iron " are sometimes said to produce," 
are owing to the presence of free iodine in them, Dr. C. J. B. 
Williams§ recommends, that the patient should eat a piece of 
bread or biscuit after each dose : " the starch of this, combining 
with the free iodine, removes its injurious property." 

To avoid evil consequences, Wutzer advises that iodine should 
be immediately discontinued, whenever a feeling of increased 
heat in the pharynx and stomach is experienced immediately 
after it is swallowed ; but as this evidence cannot be available 
in small children, attention should be paid, whether, after the 
medicine has been taken, the temperature of the skin become 
more elevated ; the pulse quicker, and whether there be any 
evidence of pain when pressure is made on the epigastric region. 
He, moreover, advises, that it should not be given internally to 
children at the breast. 

It has been affirmed, that if iodine be combined with small 
doses of opium, all the disadvantages, immediate and remote, 
may be avoided ; and it is always more advisable to give it in 
small doses for a longer, than in very large for a shorter, period. 
At times, it will happen, that in chronic affections — in which it 

* Treatise on Poisons. 

| See his General Therapeutics and Mat. Med. ii. 314. Philad. 1843. 

% Sir 1$. Brodie, Lancet, Mar. 30, 183'J. 

§ The Library of Medicine, arranged and edited by Alexander Tweedie, 
M.D..F.R.S.— Practical Medicine, vol. iii. p. 124. Art. Pleurisy, by Dr. Wil- 
liams. Lond. 1810. 



3S0 IODINUM. 

is chiefly used — its beneficial agency may not be decidedly 
manifested until after the lapse of four or five months; and it is 
important to bear this in mind, as both practitioner and patient 
are apt to become dissatisfied, unless the remedy exhibits its 
action more speedily. When it acts beneficially, the appetite is 
augmented, or is not deteriorated; digestion improves, so that 
the patient is able to take more food, and experiences less inconve- 
nience therefrom : the secretion of the bile is increased, and the 
evacuations are more copious, and of a yellower hue ; the peri- 
staltic action goes on more energetically, and the patient gains 
strength. Such, at least, are the signs that are considered by 
many to indicate that iodine agrees; but the absence of all dis- 
agreeable consequences is a sufficient index. 

To remove the symptoms of iodine disease, general or local 
bloodletting has been employed ; with warm bathing ; the use of 
milk ; emulsions of gum arabic, and the like ; and rigid diet and 
rest. The preparations of hydrocyanic acid have also been 
given with advantage in the palpitation, tremors, and other ner- 
vous symptoms that sometimes follow the use of the remedy. 

Precaution is requisite in the case of impressible, and also — it 
has been conceived — in robust persons,* to avoid the superven- 
tion of hyperemia. It is advisable, too, during its administra- 
tion, to let the diet be sparing, and devoid of all heating qualities. 
Kolleyt remarks, that iodine occasionally exerts a most unfavour- 
able influence on the nervous system, so that, in those who are 
easily excitable, unusual pains may be brought on by the use 
of even three or four drops of the tincture ; these pains, at times, 
ending in violent spasms. Such persons exhibit the impressi- 
bility, even under very minute doses, by fidgetiness or restless- 
ness of the limbs, so that they can scarcely be kept quiet : after 
a time, numbness and heaviness in all the limbs ; heaviness of 
the head, and a species of inebriation^: succeed, with violent 
cephalalgia, spasms, tremors of the limbs, paralysis,§ prostra- 
tion, spasms, depravation of vision, and disposition to lamenta- 
tion and distress. Some of these nervous symptoms, the author 
has occasionally noticed, when the dose of iodine has been 
rapidly augmented. Where the person is liable to gastric un- 
easiness, caution is requisite in the use of the remedy, as it not 
unfrequently occasions dyspepsia and violent gastrodynia. All 

* Riecke, Op. cit. S. 284. 

f Journal Complementaire, xvii. 307. 

I Giddiness was observed by Dr. Manson (Researches on the Effects of 
Iodine, p. 61, Lond. 1825) ; Ashwell (Guy's Hospital Reports, i. 136); and 
Lugol (Essays on the Effects of Iodine in Scrophulous Diseases, O'Shaugh- 
nessy's translation, p. 73, Lond. 1831). 

§ Sir B. Brodie, Lancet, 1832 ; Manson, Op. citat. ; and Sir A. Cooper, 
Lancet, ii. 147. 



IODINTTM. 381 

febrile and purely inflammatory diseases, according to Kolley, 
forbid its use. 

Dr. Andrew Buchanan* affirms, that he has never witnessed 
any of the unpleasant symptoms that have been ascribed to iodine. 
He asserts, that he has never seen its use " followed by wasting 
of the testicles or mammae, by palpitations, faintness, excessive 
debility, hurried, anxious breathing, dinginess of the surface, 
copious clammy sweats, increased menstrual discharge, or an oily 
appearance of the urine, which are enumerated amongst the 
symptoms characterising the supposed affection, termed iodism." 
As regards the wasting of the mammas and testicles, Dr. Pereira 
suspects it to be very rare. He has seen iodine administered, he 
remarks, in some hundreds of cases, and never met with one in 
which atrophy of either organ occurred. Magendie, also, states, 
that he has never witnessed these effects, although they are said 
to be frequent in Switzerland.! The author's own experience 
accords with that of those gentlemen. He has prescribed, and 
seen it prescribed, largely, both in public and in private ; yet no 
such results have ever supervened. In the Philadelphia Hos- 
pital, great attention was paid to the condition of the testes, in 
several cases in which it was administered, yet no case of atrophy 
occurred.^ 

Dr. J. Adair Lawrie,§ of Glasgow, has advanced the opinion, 
that the iodides of potassium and starch exert a poisonous in- 
fluence on the mucous membranes of the air passages, not as 
direct irritants, but indirectly through the circulation, in the form 
of acute inflammation. He admits however, that he has never 
seen them act as irritants to the gastro-intestinal mucous mem- 
branes, nor has he ever known them induce emaciation, atrophy 
of the mammae and testes, hectic and the other symptoms de- 
scribed under the term iodosis. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

Iodine exhibits itself as a most efficacious remedy in a variety 
of diseases, in which it is desirable to modify the condition of 
the function of nutrition. In referring to its use in the following 
diseases, the remarks apply not only to pure iodine, but to the 
iodides of the alkalies, especially the iodide, and ioduretted iodide 

• LonJ. Med. Gaz. July 2, 1836. 

| Fereiia, Elements of Mat. Med. and Therapeutics, i. 238. Lond. 1842. 

X Dr. A. M. Vedder, in American Medical Intelligencer, for Sept. 1, 1838. 
See, also, J. Davies, Practical Remarks on the use of Iodine locally applied in 
various Surgical Diseases and External Injuries, &c. Lond. 1839. Reprinted 
in Dunirlison's American Med. Lihrary, 1839-40. 

§ Loudon Medical Gazette, July 3, 1840, p. 590. 



3S2 IODINUM. 

of potassium ; the medical properties of which accord with those 
of iodine. 

Bronchocele. — The very first experiments made with iodine 
were on goiire. Coindet recommended it strongly in that affec- 
tion, and Formey* first introduced it into Germany. Coindet 
gave, in the first instance, the tincture internally; and he re- 
marked, that about a week after the commencement of its use, the 
skin over the goitre generally became less tense, the substance 
of the tumour felt softer, without the tumefaction having abated ; 
the particular portions of the gland became more distinct, sepa- 
rated from each other, and less and less hard, until gradually a 
diminution was perceptible. Frequently, the goitre disappeared 
completely, in the space of from six to ten weeks, under the con- 
tinued use of the remedy. At an after period, he employed 
iodine externally, in which form of administration, the evil con- 
sequences, sometimes induced by it, are less to be apprehended; 
and often its internal and external administration were com- 
bined. 

The efficacy of iodine in bronchocele, has received the most 
ample confirmation. Cases have been published by Hufeland, 
Grafe, Baup, Helling, Ziegler, Vollmer, Reiss, Paulitsky, Hirsch, 
Ulrich, Jager, Barchewitz, Meissner, Vogel, Wutzer, Seiler, Fici- 
nus, Nieustadt, Hoffmann, De Carro, J. Reid, Manson,Elliotson, 
Lugol,Bardsley,t Copland,! andnumerousothers.§ Mr. Bramley, 
whilst in Nepal amongst the Himalaya mountains, and under 
unfavourable circumstances, cured 57 out of 116 cases, and 
brought 34 more into a fair way towards ultimate recovery.|| 
The Author has administered it in a great many cases of soft 
goitre, and in every one the disease was removed. In two it 
recurred, but the hypertrophy was again dispersed under the use 
of the remedy.1T 

It has been recommended by some, that its exhibition should 
be preceded by bleeding ; and as the abstraction of blood facili- 
tates absorption, bleeding may be advisable ; and more espe- 
cially where but little, if any, effect seems to be induced by it, after 
it has been administered for some time. Reid advises, that we 
should commence with its external administration ; and, at a later 
period, conjoin this with the internal. 

* Bemerk, iiber den Kropf, u. s. w. Berlin, 1820; and Ilufeland's Journal, 
B. li. St. 4, S. Sri. 

f Hospital Facts and Observations, p. 121. Lond. 1830. 

X Diet, of Pract. Medicine. 

§ Richter's SpecielleTherapie. Berlin, 1828, S.214 ; Dictionnaire de Ma- 
tiere Medicate, &c par MM. Merat and De Lens, Art. lode, and Osann, Art. 
Iod, in Encyclopad. Wbrterb. der Med. Wissensch. Bd. six. S. 17. Berlin, 
1838. 

|| Christison, Dispensatory, p. 556. Edinb. 1842. 

IT See the Author's Practice of Medicine, i. 563. Philad. 1842. 



IODINUM. 3S3 

Although cases have been published, in which iodine has not 
answered the purpose of the prescriber, there can be no question, 
that it is the most efficacious agent in goitre in the lists of the Ma- 
teria Medica ; but when the tumour has acquired a cartilaginous 
hardness, although it may be diminished under the use of the 
remedy, it can rarely, or never, be wholly removed. Under such 
circumstances, however, every other remedy would be found 
equally fruitless. 

It is worthy of recollection, that burnt sponge was long cele- 
brated for its powers over goitre, before iodine was discovered, 
and the same was the fact in regard to certain brine sponges, as 
that of Salzhausen.* 

Glandular affections. — Besides the affections of the thyroid 
gland, there are others of different glandular bodies, in which 
iodine exhibits itself efficacious. Jahn used friction with it in 
induration of the liver with advantage. Wutzer gave it in two 
cases of induration of the spleen, but no precise deductions could 
be made as to individual efficacy, owing to its having been com- 
bined with other remedies. Milligant relates three cases of en- 
largement of the liver or spleen in children, in which he gave 
the tincture with success, after mercurials had been used ineffec- 
tually. In several cases of chronic disease of the liver attended 
with jaundice, Dr. AbercrombieJ found an ointment composed 
of gss. of iodine, and an ounce of lard, of great benefit. M. Eu- 
sebe de Salle§ and Jahn employed it with success in enlarge- 
ment of the testes ; Riecke,|| too, found it of essential service in 
a case of great induration and enlargement of the testicle, which 
in the opinion of several physicians would require an operation. 
Jahn found it useful in a case oistrumous induration of the sub- 
maxillary gland, and in one of tumefaction of the prostate, the 
consequence of mismanaged gonorrhoea. Krimer employed it 
beneficially in cases of tumefaction and induration of the me- 
senteric glands ; and CercharilT found an ointment, composed of 
a scruple of iodine and an ounce of unguentum rosatum, very 
efficacious in the cure of enlarged tonsils. He applied it to the 
tonsils, morning and evening, by means of a small brush ; and 
he asserts, that under its use the tonsils will in two months be re- 
stored to their natural dimensions. Inflammation must be sub- 
dued before the ointment is had recourse to. Sir B. Brodie** has 



• The Author's General Therapeutics and Mat. Med. p. 315. Philad. 1843. 
f Cogswell, Op. cit. p. 83; see, also, Dr. Casey, New York Journal of Med. 
Oct. 1840, p. 3-21 ; and Christi9on, Dispensatory, p. 557. Eclinb. 1812. 
\ On the Stomach, Kdinb. 1828; or Amer. Edit. Philad. 1830. 
§ Journal Complement, xix. 193, and Journal Universal, xi. 346. 
|| Die neuern Arzneimiitel, u. s. w. S.28G. 
If American Journal of Pharm. 2d serie9, ii. 83. Philad. 1837. 
♦* Lancet, Mar. 30, 1839, p. 38. 



3S4 IODINUM. 

used it successfully in similar cases ; the enlarged tonsils being 
touched every day with a camel's hair pencil dipped in the tinc- 
ture. 

Delfiz* details a case of hypertrophy of the mammae, which 
resulted favourably ; and in hypertrophy of the thymus gland 
iodine baths have been advised by Dr. Fingerhuth. In indura- 
tion of the female mammse, not of a malignant nature, Riecke* 
found it frequently of essential service ; and Dr. PereiraJ states, 
that in the chronic mammary tumour, described by Sir Astley 
Cooper, he has seen it afford great relief, allaying pain, and keep- 
ing the disease in check. 

Scrophula. — Soon after the introduction of iodine, it was used 
externally in scrophulous affections ; and at an early period was 
prescribed by Gordon, Sir A. Halliday,§ and others, especially 
combined with mercury. Their observations were confirmed 
by Magendie, Baup,|| Sablairoles,1F Baron, Brera, Manson, and 
others. Wutzer used it in many cases of scrophula, and found 
it especially useful in the lymphatic (pastosen) form. In irrita- 
ble cases, he was cautious of employing it as well as in hyperse- 
mic conditions; and he found, that when aggravation of the 
symptoms occurred, some concealed inflammatory disposition was 
the cause. Lugol** has contributed to the more extensive em- 
ployment of iodine in scrophula, and has especially recommended 
the watery solution internally, and baths externally. The fortu- 
nate results of his trials, in the hopital St. Louis, were corroborated 
by a committee appointed for the purpose by the Royal Academy 
of Sciences. It afforded eminent service in the different forms of 
scrophula; but in scrophulous caries it merely induced improve- 
ment, never entire cicatrisation. Lugol regards iodine as the most 
efficacious remedy we possess in scrophula. Eager,tt in speaking of 
Lugol's method of managing scrophula, properly lays great stress 
on the accompanying regimen — nutritious diet, cleanliness, bath- 
ing and exercise in the open air — which he regards as indis- 
pensable to a fortunate issue. He prefers the watery solution 
internally to all other remedies. Lugol and Eager unite, with 
the internal use of iodine, the external, in the form of ointment, 
or solution ; for example, in fistulae they employ it as an injection. 
To excite ulcers to cicatrisation, after appropriate pressure and 
injections have failed, Eager recommends, that the skin, which 



* Froriep's Notizen, B. xiii. H. 5, S. 33. 

f Op.cit. S. 292. 

X Elements of Mat. Med. and Therap. 2d. edit. i. 224. Lend. 1842. 

5 Lond. Med. Repos. Sept. 1821. 

|| Bibliotheque Universelle, Dec. 1821. 

If Bulletin des Sciences Medicates, Fev. 1824. 

** Essay on the Effects of Iodine, &c. p. 48. 

ft Dublin Journal of Medical Sciences, July, 1834, p. 344. 



IODINTJM. 3S5 

has separated, at the margins of the ulcers, from the subjacent 
parts, should be destroyed by caustic or removed by the knife, 
but that this should not be practised until the scrophulous tendency 
has been somewhat got under. As a caustic, he directs calcis 
viv. 3yj., potass. %v., to be made into a paste with alcohol, and 
to be applied a few lines thick : it destroys the skin in about 
five minutes. According to the same observer, iodine has ex- 
hibited its efficacy in various cases of periostitis, scrophulous 
swellings of the joints, and necrosis. In scrophulous ophthalmia, 
it was less beneficial. In scrophulous discharges from the nose 
and ear, iodine injections were commonly of service. Baudelocque* 
likewise extols the preparations of iodine in scrophula ; but 
in scrophulous affections of the bones, and especially in caries, as 
well as in scrophulous diseases of the skin, it appeared to him to 
be inefficacious. Dr. Isaac Parrisht found the iodide of potas- 
sium serviceable in certain diseases of the eye, which had a 
constitutional origin, or were closely allied to a scrophulous or 
cachectic condition of the general system. The dose in which 
he gave it was from two to six grains three times a day in a table- 
spoonful of the compound syrup of sarsaparilla. The author has 
found excellent effects from it in such cases, when given in simple 
syrup. Many cases have been related by Zinck, Maunoir, 
Manson, Weihe, Benaben, Bayle, and others, in which ivhite 
swellings of the joints, of a scrophulous character, were removed 
by its use. Wutzer has likewise offered favourable testimony 
in regard to it in affections of the bones, some of which were 
of a strumous nature. In several cases, so much disorganisation 
had occurred, that the loss of the whole limb was to be appre- 
hended, yet the iodine arrested the destructive process, and the 
limbs were preserved. In various scrophulous affections, the tinc- 
ture of iodine was given by Dr. KiihneJ with great success, and 
without any evil consequences. He made it, however, of half 
the usual strength, beginning with three drops, and gradually 
increasing the dose to fifteen. In tumefaction of the joints, 
iodine, administered externally, has afforded essential service. 
Wutzer was of opinion, that the tincture might frequently be 
applied externally with greater advantage than the ointment ; 
the alcohol readily evaporating and leaving the iodine on the 
skin ; for which reason he recommends, that the tincture should 
be applied repeatedly by means of a camel's hair pencil. 

Tubercles. — The eflicacy of iodine in scrophulous affections 
gave rise to the belief, that it might be serviceable in tubercles. 

* Etudes sur la Maladie Scropliuleuse. Paris. 1831 ; and London Lancet, 
May 25, 1839, p. 350 ; see, also, Cogswell on Iodine, p. 75. 
| l'hilad. Med. Examiner, Ap. 1G, 1812, p. 211. 
% Medicinische Zeitung, No. 31, August 21, 1836. Berlin. 
33 



386 IODINTJM. 

Brera and Calloway administered it frequently in mesenteric 
tubercles with success, and the observations of Krimer, referred 
to above, correspond with theirs. It has also been given with 
advantage in cases of pulmonary tubercles. It was suggested, 
in such affections, by Dr. Baron, and a case is related by Mr. 
Haden of apparent tubercles in which it was markedly useful ;* 
similar examples are detailed by Jahn, Waldack, and others ; 
and it has been recently recommended in conjunction with 
decoction of cimicifuga by Dr. C. C. Hildreth,t of Zanesville, 
Ohio, but the evidence adduced by him is not strong. Berton 
affirms, that he has found inhalations of the vapour of iodine 
of decided efficacy in confirmed phthisis, as well as in certain 
forms of catarrh. 

It has likewise been advised in phthisical affections, in the 
form of vapour, by Sir James Murray, J and by Sir C. Scuda- 
more.§ The addition of a little tincture of conium was found by 
the latter gentleman to be beneficial in subduing the irritating 
qualities of the gas. His first formula was the following: — 
R. Iodin. gr. viij. , Potass, iodid. gr. iij., Alcohol, gss., Aquas destil- 
lat. gvss. M. Of this solution from one dram to six, and from 
twenty to thirty-five minims of a saturated tincture of conium, 
were used in each inhalation, which was continued from half 
an hour to forty minutes. Sir Charles considered it better to 
add the conium at the time of employing the inhalation. At 
the temperature of 90°, the volatile properties of iodine are given 
off very sensibly, but conium requires more heat, and that of 
120° -is not too much for the iodine. Of late, Sir Charles has 
published the results of his farther observation with this remedy, 
of which he has as high an opinion as ever. He has somewhat 
modified his formula, however. || He now recommends the 
following: — R. Iodin. pur., Potass, iodid. aa. gr. vj., Aquas 
destillat. gv. jvj., Alcoholis, 31J. M. He prefers to add the 
conium at the time of mixing the iodine solution with the water, 
and recommends that it should be a saturated tincture, pre- 
pared with genuine dried leaves. In the commencement of the 
treatment, he advises very small proportions of the iodine mix- 
ture ; — for example, from half a dram to a dram for an inhala- 
tion of eight or ten minutes duration, and this to be repeated 
two or three times a day. Of the tincture, to which Sir Charles 

31 Formulary — the Author's edition, p. 37. Lond. 1824. 

f Amer. Journ. of the Med. Sciences, Oct., 1842, p. 280. 

% On Temperature, Aliment, &c. 1829. 

§ Cases illustrative of the Efficacy of various Medicines administered by 
Inhalation in Pulmonary Consumption, 2d edit. Lond. ; and Lond. Med. Gaz. 
Feb. 17, 1838, p. 804. 

|| London Medical Gazette, Feb. 7, 1840, p. 750. See, also, Dr. E. J. Coxe, 
Practical Treatise on Medical Inhalation, pp. 51-85. Philad. 1841. 



IODINUM. 3S7 

gives the epithet "soothing," he directs half a dram, which he 
usually finds to be sufficient, but it may be increased if the cough 
be very troublesome. He soon augments the quantity of the 
iodine mixture, progressively from 3j-to3iv. ; and at the same 
time prolonging the period of inhaling, he divides the iodine 
dose, putting two-thirds at first, and the rest after the expiration 
of seven or eight minutes. Although the temperature of 120° is 
the most favourable for volatilizing the active principles of the 
iodine and conium, mixed with some watery vapour, Sir Charles 
considers the approximation will be sufficient, if equal parts of 
boiling and cold water be used, with which the inhaler should 
not be quite half filled. Care should be taken, however, to pre- 
pare the inhaler for this temperature by first washing it out with 
tepid water. During the process, the inhaler should be kept 
immersed in a vessel containing water of a rather higher tem- 
perature than 120°. 

The feelings of the patient will be a great guide as to the 
strength of the inhaling mixture in any particular case. 

A reviewer in the British and Foreign Medical Review,* 
affirms, that his own experience leaves him no doubt as to the 
great value of the practice as a palliative in phthisis, and as an 
important remedy in bronchitis. It is true, however, he adds, 
that the relief has often been as great from the simple aqueous 
as from the medicated inhalation. The author's own experience 
has not been favourable to it,f and Dr. Pereiraf says he has re- 
peatedly tried it in phthisis as well as in other chronic pulmo- 
nary complaints, but never with the least benefit. The inhala- 
tion may be practised in the method recommended under the 
head of Chlorine (page 149). 

The inhalation of iodine has been dreaded, because, in some 
instances, troublesome irritation of the larynx has followed its 
use ; but Dr. Corrigan§ considers, that this injurious effect has 
resulted from the defective means of inhalation hitherto em- 
ployed. Used in the manner he has recommended, and which we 
have described — under the article referred to above — gradual in 
its evaporation, and ultimately combined with a large portion of 
aqueous vapour, its use, he says, is positively free from any inju- 
rious irritative effects. The vapour he found to diminish most 
remarkably the profuse and wasting purulent expectoration of 
phthisis. The effects of iodine, thus used, on the digestive func- 
tion were also very gratifying. In all the cases in which Dr. 
Corrigan employed it, the appetite and state of the intestinal ca- 

* April, 1838, p. GOG. 

f Practice of Medicine, i. 378, Philad. 1812. 
\ Elements of the Materia Medica, i. 245, Lond. 1842. 
§ Dublin Journal of Medical Science, for March, 1839, p. 103 ; and Lond. 
Med. Gaz. for April G, 1839, p. 50. 



3SS IODINUM. 

nal were improved. It acted as a useful tonic to the digestive 
organs, without any of the irritation, which its internal use, in 
the ordinary form, at times produces. It likewise greatly alle- 
viated the cough, so that the patient was enabled to obtain hours 
of sound and refreshing sleep ; and he, consequently, considers, 
that even should its use be of little avail against the destructive 
scrophulous ulceration, which constitutes phthisis, the palliative 
good, which is derived from it, renders it a valuable addition to 
our list of remedies. Dr. Corrigan has had his apparatus at 
work from eight to twelve hours in the twenty-four ; and his 
mode of managing it is as follows : — at night, when the patient 
is settling to sleep, the apparatus is suspended from the roof of 
the bed ; and, when once arranged, it continues its work quietly 
and silently for four or five hours, while the patient, asleep, is 
all this time inhaling the medicated air. In the morning, for 
three or four hours before the patient rises, it is again at work ; 
and, if necessary, in the midday, while the patient reclines on 
the bed, with the curtains drawn round three of the sides. The 
rate of evaporation, which generally gives a sufficiently strong 
impregnation to the air, is when the tincture of iodine drops 
from the cotton wick at the rate of from six to eight drops per 
minute. At this rate, about six drams of the tincture will be 
evaporated in an hour, and as every particle of iodine is diffused 
in watery vapour through the air, there are thus diffused in 
the minutest state of division through the air, in every hour, 
about thirty grains. " If we suppose the patient to inhale only 
one-twentieth of the iodine evaporated he will inhale in each 
hour, and apply to the diseased surfaces, one grain and a half 
of iodine in a state of the most minute division or solution." 
" This quantity we know" — adds Dr. Corrigan — " is quite suffi- 
cient to exert a decided action upon scrophulous ulceration ; for 
we find on reference to Lugol's valuable work on the employment 
of iodine in scrophula, that in external scrophulous ulceration, 
the preparation of iodine, which is found beneficial, is a solution 
which contains only about three grains of iodine in each pint of 
fluid." The duration of the inhalation can, of course, be ex- 
tended at pleasure. 

Fontana affirms, that he has observed decided benefit from 
iodine in a case of phthisis mucosa ; when given in the form of 
syrup, and combined with the external application of the 
ointment of tartarised antimony. Duverney has communicated 
some cases, which appeared favourable to the prophylactic agency 
of iodine in incipient or threatened phthisis, but he himself 
considers, that his observations have not been sufficiently nu- 
merous to effect the demonstration. The author has frequently 
administered iodine, in various forms, in pulmonary tubercles, 
but it must be confessed, not with that decided advantage, 



IODINUM. 3S9 

which the well known sorbefacient virtues of the remedy, and 
the recorded observations of others, might seem to promise.* 
He has never witnessed, on the other hand, the evil, which 
Riecket mentions, that it may, under particular circumstances, 
occasion the speedy development of phthisis, where tubercles 
exist in the lungs. Riecke refers to a case by Hiiser, as corro- 
borative of his opinion. A woman, fifty years old, was affected 
with anchylosis spuria, for which an ointment of iodine was re- 
commended ; but it had not been employed more than three 
weeks, and not more than a dram of iodide of potassium had 
been rubbed in, when symptoms of tubercular phthisis rapidly 
supervened, which, in half a year, terminated in death. There 
does not appear, however, in this case, to have been any thing 
more than a coincidence. 

Mr. Leighf directs the patient to apply a sufficient quantity 
of iodine ointment on the ribs and under the axillae, and to cover 
the head with the bedclothes, in order to breathe the iodine vo- 
latilized by the heat of the body. The ointment produces coun- 
terirritation on the skin where it is placed, and must be repeated 
according to circumstances. This method, Mr. Leigh thinks, 
has arrested the progress of phthisis. 

In chronic engorgements of the larynx, iodine was used in 
two cases by Trousseau and Belloq ;§ once without success, but 
the second time with marked advantage ; and in tubercles of the 
liver it has been regarded worthy of special consideration. || 

Dropsy. — Many trials have been made with iodine in cases 
of dropsy, owing to its powerful eutrophic agency.1T Bradfield 
and Bardsley exhibited it frequently with success in hydrothorax 
and ascites ; and Kissam, in a case of dropsy, dependent pro- 
bably upon induration of the liver. Dr. Coster** says he has 
removed many dropsies by giving internally from six to fifteen 
drops for a dose of a mixture composed of Iodin. gr. hi., Potass, 
iodid. gr. vi., Aquae, 3j. ; aided by an ointment composed of fif- 
teen grains of iodine, with double the quantity of iodide of po- 
tassium, to an ounce of lard. This is to be placed inside the 
thighs after removing the cuticle by a blister. The armpits and 



* Op. cit. 

f Die neuern Arzneimitiel, u. s. w. S. 289; see, also, Gunther, in Harless's 
Neue Jahrb. B. xii. St. 3, S. 161. 

I Lond. Med. Gazette, May, 1841. 

§ Traite Pratique de la Plithisie Laryngee, p. 371, Paris, 1837, and Transla- 
tion by Dr. Warder, Dunglison's Amer. Med. Library edit. p. 145, Philad. 
1839. 

|| Riecke, Op. cit. S. 290. 

If Dr. Win. Stokes, in Amer. Journal of the Med, Sciences, May, 1834, 
p. 543, from London Med. and Surg Journal. 

** Journal de Pharmacie, 1831. 
33* 



390 IODINUM. 

soles of the feet were also rubbed with the ointment. The same 
plan is recommended by Dr. Osborne.* Jahn, also, regards 
iodine as one of the most important agents of modern discovery, 
and as an extremely valuable antihydropic.t He first used it in 
a case of hydrocele, in which it was doubtful, whether degene- 
ration of the testicle had not been a precursor. The effect of the 
ointment of iodide of potassium left nothing to be desired ; and, 
accordingly, he afterwards employed it in all cases of hydrocele 
of the tunica vaginalis, which he met with, — even in the new 
born, — united with mercury or extract of conium ; and in every 
case, which was not of too chronic a character, it exhibited its 
sanative powers. The only unfavourable effects induced by it 
were a temporary disappearance of the testicle, in some cases ; 
and a humid cutaneous eruption of the scrotum. He also found 
the iodine extremely useful in hydrothorax and ascites ; and espe- 
cially in casesof dropsy, that succeeded to exanthematous diseases, 
and that it acted more speedily and powerfully when combined 
with some diuretic. He found, farther, that it was followed by 
the most beneficial results in the hydrocephalus of children — 
as well chronic as acute — especially when the latter form had 
attained its full development, — that is, when the inflammatory 
stage was over, and the accumulation of fluid was the prominent 
condition. In these cases, he commonly used iodine in the form of 
iodide of potassium made into an ointment, and rubbed on the 
head. Frequently, however, he gave iodine also internally, in 
combination with calomel and digitalis ; but it may be objected 
to this combination, that iodine with calomel forms corrosive 
chloride, and iodide and red iodide of mercury, so that, in very 
small doses ; it might affect the stomach too violently.^ 

Dr. Ri3ser,§ of Wurtemburg, likewise advocates the use of the 
iodide of potassium, in large doses, incases of acute hydrocephalus, 
where the ordinary remedies have failed, paralysis has occurred, 
and death appears to be impending. 

M. Ricord|| employed iodine with success in five cases of 
hydrocele ; — the tincture being diluted with distilled water, and 
applied by means of compresses wetted with it, in which the 
scrotum was enveloped. He used it of four different strengths — 
5j., 5ij., 3iij- 5 and 3vj. of the tincture, to Siij. of water. 

* On the Nature and Treatment of Dropsical Diseases, 2d edit., p. 48. 
Lond. 1837; and Dunglison's Ainer. Med. Library edit. Philad. 1838. 

f Elliotson, in Lancet, 1830-31. See, also, P. Spalding, in Boston 
J\led. and Surg. Journal, Dec. 25, 1839, p. 314. 

X Riecke, Op. cit. S. 291. 

§ Hufeland's Journal, for Apl. 1841, S. 84; also Lond. and Edinb. Monthly 
Journ. of Med. Science. See, also, Dr. Fluder, in Lond. Med. Gaz. Sept. 30, 
1842, and K. G. Zimmermann, Zeitschrift fiir die gesammte Medicin., August, 
1842, S. 418. 

Journal des Connaissances Med. Chirurg. Janvier, 1833. 



I0DINUM. 391 

In hygroma, or dropsy of the bursas mucosae of the joints, an 
ointment of iodide of potassium (5ij. 3 ad axung. ij.) has been suc- 
cessfully used by M. Reynaud.* The limb is kept at rest, and 
morning and evening, or three times a day, friction is made with 
this quantity of ointment ; after which the knee — the joint com- 
monly affected — is covered with a large flaxseed, poultice. 
From some trials made with iodide of lead, there was reason to 
believe it more efficacious than iodide of potassium. The treat- 
ment was generally successful in about a fortnight. 

Typhus. — A recent writer, Dr. Morrison,! states, that there is 
a condition in typhus fever, which is materially benefited by 
iodide of potassium. It is marked by a dry, parched, brown or 
black tongue ; by dark sordes on the teeth and gums ; by a dis- 
position to dark fetid discharges from the bowels ; by a weak 
and compressible pulse ; and by the ordinary signs of depraved 
secretions, vitiated fluids, and debility. The dose, which Dr. 
Morrison is in the habit of administering, is three grains every 
four or five hours, dissolved in water, or mixed with wine, &c. 

As to the efficacy of iodine in nervous diseases, testimony is 
somewhat discordant. MansonJ and Elliotson§ found it useful in 
paralysis, but Dr. Bardsley failed with it. Chorea was removed 
by Gibney,|| Bardsley and Manson ; and Franklin,1F by very 
large doses, relieved a case of epilepsy. 

The intimate affinity between iodine and the urinary organs 
has given occasion to its employment in 

Incontinence of Urine. — Of which Corter cured two cases 
by the tincture. 

Cutaneous Diseases. — Cases of dry, scaly tetter were treated, 
commonly, by TQnnermann, with an ointment made of iodide 
of potassium, applied to the affected parts three or four times a 
day. For the most part, an increase of the evil was at first a 
pretty sure harbinger of a radical cure ; when this attained a 
certain degree, a change in the organic actions of the skin suc- 
ceeded ; the remedy was then pretermitted, and the parts were 
washed a few times with soap, when the eruption faded and 
gradually disappeared. In moist tetter, Tunnermann applies 
only a very weak salve, with which the parts are touched daily, 
two or three times ; in the intervals, he envelopes them in a dry 
linen rag. The pain, which is always induced by the applica- 
tion, soon passes away. Magendic,Gimelle, and Jeffray** have 



• Cabissol, in Bulletin General de Th6rapeutique, Fev. 1838. 

f Dublin Med. Press, Oct. 21, 1840. 

t Op. cit. 

§ Lancet, 1830-31. 

|| Ibid. 1827-8, p. 51. 

<$ Lancet, 1830, and Cogswell, Op. cit. p. 21. 

*♦ Cogswell, Op. cit. p. 80. 



392 IODINUM. 

likewise applied it successfully in tetter. In chronic cutaneous 
diseases in general, the various preparations of iodine are valua- 
ble remedies. They enter, as we have seen, the mass of blood, 
modify the condition of that fluid, and, in this manner, exert a 
new impression upon the morbid capillaries. The author has 
often employed them in these cases with success ; and like tes- 
timony has been afforded by MM. Biett, Gimelle, Kolley, 
Locher-Balber, Kennedy,* and others. Brehme succeeded in re- 
moving, rapidly and completely, a case of inveterate porrigofavosa, 
and ophthalmia thereon dependent, by an ointment of iodine. 

Dr. G. Billingslea, of Alabama, asserts,t that, for twelve 
years he has used the tincture of iodine, with the happiest 
effect, as a local application in the troublesome cases of herpes 
circinatus or ring-worm, that are so common in the southern 
part of this country. He adds, that he does not recollect a case 
in which it had been employed, which was not radically cured. 

In lupus, the tincture applied locally has proved highly bene- 
ficial. Under its use, the process of ulceration has stopped, and 
cicatrization has taken place. It is recommended to be applied 
not only to the ulcerated portion, but to the parts around.J 

Amenorrhcea. — According to Coindet, iodine is a powerful 
emmenagogue, and the possession of this property has likewise 
been ascribed to it by Brera,§ who frequently administered it 
successfully in amenorrhoea; and Formey, Nieustiidt,and Ashwell|| 
confirm their observations. Sablairoles cured three cases by fric- 
tions with iodine ointment on the breast, conjoined with the in- 
ternal use of iodine. It was necessary, however, to give it in 
large doses, and for a long time. Locher-BalberlT and Golis found 
iodine of value, at times, in those troublesome cases, which occa- 
sionally precede the establishment of menstruation ; the latter 
was, however, often deterred from its use, in such cases, by the 
evil consequences it produced on the respiratory organs, — such 
as dry cough, or cough accompanied by bloody sputa. 

Degeneration of the Ovaries. — Rochling observed a marked 
effect from the use of iodine in induration of the ovary. Jahn 
cured, by an ointment of iodine and mercury, an enormous dege- 
neration of the ovaries, which gave rise to two tumours, each of 
the sizeof the head; and Messrs. Thetford,**Klaproth,tt Jewel,|J 

* Lond. Med. Gazette, May 8, 1840, p. 260. 
f Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intelligencer, May 1, 1839, p. 34. 
X Pereira, Elements of Mat. Med. and Therap. i. 246. Lond. 1842. 
§ Saggio Clinico sull' Iodic 

|| Guy's Hospital Reports, No. 1, Lond. 1836, and Cogswell, Op. cit. 
p. 43. 
f Hecker's Litter. Annal. i. 275; and Cogswell on Iodine, p. 77. 
** Transactions of the Dublin College of Physicians, v. 510. Dublin, 1828. 
ft Revue Medicale, Mars, 1824. 
%X Op- cit. 



IODINUM. 393 

and Ashwell* were equally successful. Baron employed it 
beneficially in a case of dropsy of the ovarium. 

In hypertrophy of the ventricles of the heart, Magendie re- 
commended it long ago. 

In scirrhus of the uterus, mammse, &c, it has been advised by 
Heun, Klaproth, Hennemann, Von dem Busch,t Ullmann, Hill, 
Benaben, Magendie, Bermont, Hammer, Elwert,WagnerJ Cop- 
land^ Zimmermann ;|| and, from their recorded observations, it 
would seem, that great efficacy ought to be ascribed to it, both 
when internally and externally administered. Acase is recorded 
by Dr. ThetfordlF in which the uterus was of bony hardness, and 
so large as nearly to fill the pelvis ; yet it gave way in six weeks 
to the use of iodine. Seven cases of hard tumours of the uterus 
are likewise reported by Dr. Ashwell,** which were removed 
by iodine, with occasional depletion, and regulated diet. It was 
given internally, and at the same time applied externally in the 
form of ointment (Iodin. gr. xv., Potass, iodid. 9ij., Ung. cetacei, 
Miss.}, of which a piece of the size of a nutmeg was introduced 
into the vagina and rubbed into the cervix uteri for 10 or 12 
minutes every night. The average time required for the re- 
moval of these tumours was from 8 to 16 weeks. Jahn extols 
it much in incipient scirrhus of the stomach, when combined 
with the application of leeches ; and Riecke asserts, that his 
father found an ointment of iodine extraordinarily useful in a 
case of induration of the pancreas; and, also, in acase of 
scirrhus of the pylorus. Magendie extols it in cancer of the 
tongue ; and Benaben and Trustedt employed it successfully 
in stricture of the urethra, supervening on badly managed 
gonorrhoea. 

Leucorrhcea. — A Parisian physician made the observation, 
that during the employment of iodine in goitre, obstinate and 
protracted leucorrhcea disappeared : this induced him to try the 
remedy in the latter disease, and he found it very efficacious. 
Goden and Broglio, likewise, observed it useful in malignant fluor 
albus ; and Benaben, Richond,tt De Salle, Caswall,J % anc ^ Broglio, 
in gonorrhoea. The last two individuals gave it especially in 
those cases, in which, without any marked inflammation, a 
deeply rooted gonorrhoea existed, with ulcers in the urethra and 
prepuce, not apparently of a syphilitic character. In chronic 

* Guy's Hospital Reports, vol. i. 

+ Hufeland's Journal, B. lx. St. 2, S. 81. 

% Kevue Medicale, Juin, 1833. 

{ Dictionary of Practical Medicine, Art. Cancer. 

|| Journal de Pharmacie, Juin, 1812, p. 598. 

•ff Trans, of the King and Queen's College of Physicians of Ireland, vol. v. 

*+ Op. cit. 

f| Archives Generates de Medecine, vol. iv. 

If Lond. Med. Gazette for 1834. 



394 IODINUM. 

fluor albus, it was used by Muller* with marked success. A 
young female had long suffered under this affection, which had 
reduced her strength, and did not yield to any of the means that 
had been employed, when the ointment of iodide of potassium 
was rubbed — morning and evening — on the inner surface of 
the thighs. After this plan had been continued for four weeks, 
the disease entirely ceased. MM. Gimelle and Jewell are also 
advocates for it.t 

In discharges from the nose, iodine, in the form of iodide of 
potassium, has been used with advantage by Dr. ElliotsonJ and 
by Mr. George Fayrer§ — given internally, as well as employed 
in the form of injection (9j. ad aquae jiv.). 

In secondary syphilis, iodine has been recommended by Tyr- 
rel, Saville, De Salle, Schlesier,|| Dietrich,! A. Cade,** and nu- 
merous others ; — especially when the disease is complicated with 
scrophula, and the effects of mercurials. Wallacett has likewise 
communicated some fortunate results from the administration of 
iodide of potassium in secondary syphilis, and Ebers,Jt Ricord,§§ 
Von Haselberg,|||| Cullerier and others have confirmed hisobser- 
vations. More recently, Mr. BullockTITf has reported the particu- 
lars of eleven cases of secondary syphilitic diseases, of a formid- 
able character, relieved by iodide of potassium, given internally, 
in doses of eight grains three times a day, in camphor mixture. 
The symptoms were : — destruction of the vulva and soft palate ; 
or nodes, with nocturnal pains in the tibia, ulna, frontal and 
malar bones, and affection of the bones of the nose, or rupiaand 
other tubercular eruptions. The period of cure was from one 
to two months. Mr. Mayo*** has described it as efficacious in 

* Wochenschrift fur die gesammte Heilkunde, No. 40, S. 633. Oct. 1836. 

| Revue Medicate, vii.249 ; and Practical Observations on Leucorrhcea,&c. 
by Geo. Jewell, p. 80, Lond. 1830. See, also, Solon, in Nouv. Diet, de Med. 
et Chirurg. Art. lode. 

% Lancet, Feb. 10, 1838, p. 725. 

| Ibid. Feb. 24, p. 786. 

|| Casper's Wochenschrift, Feb. 4, 1837, S. 78. 

Tf Journ. des Chirurg. und Augenheilhunde, von Grafe und Walther; 
cited in Encyclog. des Sciences Med. Jan. 1841, p. 165. 

** Bull. Gen. de Therap. Mai, 1841 and Encycl.'des Sciences Med. Aout, 
1841, p. 319. 

ft Treatise on the Venereal Disease, Lond. 1833. 

XX Medicinische Zeitung, Oct. 5, 1836, S. 201 and 207. 

§§ J. J. L. Rattier, La Lancette Francaise, No. 34, Mars 19, 1839. Gazette 
des Hopitaux, Mars, 1839, and Langston Parker's Modern Treatment of 
Syphilitic Diseases, &c, &c. Dunglison's Amer. Med. Library Edit. p. 77, 
Philad. 1840. 

Illl Medicinische Zeitung, No. 48 and 49, Berlin, 1837. 

Iffl Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journal, Jan. 2, 1837. See, also, Cogswell on 
Iodine, p. 80 ; and Laycock, Lond. Med. Gazette, Mar. 2, 1839, p. 821. 

*** Lond. Med. Gaz. xi. 249. See, also, a Treatise on Syphilis, by Herbert 
Mayo, F.R.S. Lond. 1840. 



IODINUM. 395 

certain disorders, which are the consequences of syphilis, as ema- 
ciation, with ulcers of the skin ; ulcerated throat, affections of 
the bones, &c, occurring in those to whom mercury had been 
given. 

Iodide of potassium has been used with much success by M. 
Ricord* in deep seated syphilitic tubercles. Before the tuber- 
cles have become inflamed or softened, whilst they are still indu- 
rated, he has constantly succeeded in dispersing them by iodide 
of potassium with small doses of iodide of mercury. Very com- 
monly, however, he employs iodide of potassium alone; and 
when the tubercles have become ulcerated, he still relies upon it 
as his principal remedy. 

M. Ricord t considers its results to be most happy in the tertiary 
forms of syphilis, in which he considers it the great remedy. He 
employs it in gradually increasing doses, commencing with ten 
grains dissolved in three ounces of distilled water, and given at 
intervals during the day in any convenient vehicle. When the 
remedy agrees, which it most commonly does if the stomach be 
healthy, the dose is increased ten grains every two or three days, 
till it is carried to a drachm, a drachm and a half, or even more, 
in the course of the day. In the great number of patients, who 
have been treated by M. Ricord, the beneficial effects of the 
iodide were constantly exhibited, but not always with the same 
degree of rapidity. 

Nocturnal pains in the bones, and diseases of the bones and 
periosteum have likewise been particularly benefited by the 
iodide :% the latter, when localized for a longer or shorter 
period, have yielded sooner when blisters have been applied 
over the affected parts. 

An iodine suppository appeared to Mr. Keate§ to be benefi- 
cial in enlarged prostate ; and iodide of potassium was adminis- 
tered successfully in the same disease by Dr. Casey. || 

In enlargements of the thirdlobe of the prostate, M. R. A. Staf- 
ford,^ has recommended it to be applied, by charging a bougie at 
its point with iodine, or iodideofpotassium, and then dipping it into 
melted tallow, so that a coating may be formed upon it. The 

* Lanjrston Parker, Modern Treatment of Syphilitic Diseases, &c. Dungli- 
son's Amer. Med. Libr. Edit. p. 77. Philad. 1840. 

■f- Traitc Pratique des Maladies Vcneriennes, &c. Paris, 1838; also, Ac- 
ton, Complete Treatise on Venereal Diseases, &c. Lond. 1841 ; M. Lafargue, 
Encycl. des Sciences Med. Fcvrier, 1841, p. 359, and M. S6guin, Bull. Gen. 
de Therap. Den. 1841. 

I See, also, Dr. Wm. B. Casey, in New York Journal of of Medicine and 
Surgery. Oct. 1840, p. 320; and J. M. Ferrall, Lond. Med. Gazette, April 
10,1840. 

§ Lancet, for 1832-3, p. 672. 

|| New York Journal of Medicine, Oct. 1840, p. 324. 

% Brit, and For. Med. Rev. Oct. 1840, p. 529. 



396 IODINUM. 

bougie having been passed so as to reach the desired spot, its 
point is allowed to rest upon the diseased part, when the tallow 
gradually melts, and brings the iodine or iodide of potassium into 
contact with it, and by drawing the bougie gently backwards 
and forwards, the necessary friction is produced. He has found 
it advisable to be very cautious as to the strength of the applica- 
tion, as the prostate will not bear a strong preparation either of 
iodine or iodide of potassium at first. He has found it necessary to 
employ belladonna, opium, hyoscyamus,&c, to quiet irritation and 
pain. When these have subsided, he begins carefully by intro- 
ducing iodide of potassium in the proportion of one grain to the 
dram of unguentum cetacei, and increasing it as the patient 
can bear it. He then goes on with two, three, four, five, and 
even as far as ten grains or a scruple to the dram, according as 
the case requires it. After this, he adds iodine to it ; half a grain, 
one, two, three, four, or even more grains in the same manner. 

In different forms of rheumatism, iodine has been given with 
success by Dr. Clendenning,* in the Mary-le-bone Hospital, and 
a series of cases in which it was employed has been published by 
him. Sir B. Brodief twice relieved rheumatism by the tincture, 
although, in one of the cases, only temporarily. Cases of acute 
rheumatism, treated successfully by iodide of potassium, used 
internally and externally, have been published by Dr. Mackay,J 
Mr. Wardlewortn§ and M. Bouyer ;|| and in chronic rheumatism 
its success appears to have been equally decided ; given alone in 
full doses — six grains, for example, three times a day — or asso- 
ciated with sarsaparilla. This combination has been highly ex- 
tolled by Dr. Graves in sciatica and lumbago ;1F and by Dr. Hey- 
gate* # in chronic rheumatism, secondary syphilis, &c. 

In gout, too, it has been prescribed. Jahn found it extremely 
effective in dispersing gouty tophi. Valentin observed, that when 
iodine was given in a case of goitre, complicated with gout, the 
tumefaction of the joints and the depositions gradually disap- 
peared. Adopting the hint, he gave it in several cases of gout, 
with the effect of always mitigating the disease, and, at times, 
of completely curing it. Gendrin used iodine not only in chro- 
nic gouty swellings with success, but also in acute cases. Ebers 
likewise confirms the efficacy of iodine in gout. 

In coxalgia, Buchanan recommends the tincture of iodine to 

* Lond. Med. Gazette, May, 1835. 
t Lancet, for 1832-3. 
X Ibid. Mar. 2, 1839, p. 830. 
§ Ibid. Mar. 30, 1839. 

|| Gazette Med. de Paris, No. 32, 1840; see, also, Mr. Davies, p. 317. 
If Dublin Journal of Med. Science, Nov. 1840. 

** London Lancet, Mar. 6, 1841 ; see, also, Dr. E. D. Connor, Dunglison's 
American Medical Intelligencer, Dec. 1, 1840, p. 257. 



IODINUM. 397 

be applied by means of a small brush, as well as in cases of false 
joint, of which he has detailed a successful instance. A similar 
case has also been given by Treusen. 

In adiposis, Von Grafe* prescribed it, and not without advan- 
tage. The case was accompanied by great voracity and sense 
of suffocation. Bleeding and cathartics were premised. 

In stomacace or a scorbutic state of the gums, the use of iodine 
has been recommended by Fried rich ; as well as in mercurial 
salivation, by Kluge, Knod,t Klose,J Graves,§ Asmus,|j and 
others ; yet its efficacy appears to be somewhat doubtful in the 
last affection. Heyfelder found it of no value in three cases. 

In a case of stricture of the oesophagus, it was given with much 
benefit by Mr. Cumming, of New York.TI A bougie had been 
previously used, but without advantage. An adventitious mem- 
brane was brought up in scales soon after commencing the iodine. 
For two or three weeks, the medicine was laid aside, but it was 
found necessary to resume it. 

In affections of the mucous membrane of the middle ear, it 
has been used by Dr. Manson, and also, by Mr. T. Wharton 
Jones ;** by the former with advantage ; by the latter without 
any marked effect. 

Dr. Manson likewise succeeded in curing chronic Dacryo- 
cystitis by it. 

In cases of hydrocele, Velpeautt prefers a solution of iodine to 
wine as an injection. He employs the tincture in the propor- 
tion of from one to two drams to an ounce of water. He treated 
successfully twenty cases by this method. Mr. J. R. Martin,JJ 
of India, appears, however, to have anticipated him in this appli- 
cation of the remedy. Up to the time of the presentation of his 
paper to the Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta, (January, 
1835,) he had used it successfully in upwards of ninety cases. 
More recently, he has communicated to the Medical and Physi- 
cal Society of Calcutta the results of his subsequent experience. 
The number treated since March, 1832, at the Native Hospital, 



* Walther und Grafe's Journal fur Chirurgie, B. ix. St. 3, S. 367. 

f Gazette des Hopiiaux, July, 1837. 

X Medicinische Zeitung, No. 34, 1836. See, also, Amer. Journal Med. Sci- 
ences, Feb. 1834, p. 533. 

$ Dublin Journal Med. Science, Jan. 1834. 

|| Casper's Wochenschrift fur die gesammte Heilkunde, No. 45, 1838, and 
Encyclographie des Sciences M6dicales, Juillet, 1839. 

If New York Journal of Medicine and Surgery, No. 2, Oct. 1839, p. 451. 

*• Lond. Med. Gaz. Aug. 17, 1839, p. 754, and Dunglison's Amer. Med. 
Intel. Nov. 1, 1839, p. 233. 

+f Archives Gen6rales dc Mtdecine, Jan. 1837; La Presse Medicale, Mai, 
1837. See, also, Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intelligencer, July 15, 1837, p. 138 ; 
and Oct. 16, p. 263, 

X% Amer. Journal of the Medical Sciences, Nov. 1837, p. 238. 
34 



39S IODINUM. 

was seven hundred and seventy-seven : of these, seven hundred 
and sixty-six had a solution of tincture of iodine injected. 

In order to ascertain, whether it was by mere stimulation that 
the cure by the tincture of iodine was obtained, Mr. Martin 
treated ten cases with a common urethra-syringeful of undiluted 
port wine, and one with diluted tinctura lyttse, in the same pro- 
portion as that of iodine, 5ij- to water gvj. Of this, two drams 
were injected and retained; the pain during twenty-four hours 
was excessive, and the inflammation, although not proportionate 
to the pain, was much longer in subsiding than when the tincture 
of iodine solution was used : this was also remarkably apparent 
in the cases treated with undiluted port wine. 

Of the seven hundred and sixty-six cases treated, it does not 
appear that more than four failed.* 

For hydroceles containing from six to thirty ounces of fluid, 
two drams of the solution of tincture of iodine are sufficient ; for 
those containing from thirty to sixty ounces, three drams ; and 
for those of a larger size, four to five drams. When the hydro- 
cele contains less than three ounces, 3j. of the injection is suffi- 
cient.t 

The cure is effected much sooner by iodine ; and if any infil- 
tration takes place it is readily absorbed. 

Highly favourable results have also been obtained by MM. 
Oppenheimi and Fricke,§ and by Mr. Bransby Cooper,|| and 
the method has been largely employed in this country with equal 
advantage. "(I Two successful cases are reported by Dr. 
Stewart** 

Encouraged by the success, which attended the use of iodine 
injections in hydrocele, M. Velpeautt has adopted a similar mode 
of treatment for various kinds of serous cysts, enlarged bursas, 
&c, about the knee, in the axilla, breast, neck, and other parts. 
He punctures the cyst with a tro'car proportioned to its size ; 
emptying it in this manner, and then injects through the canula 
a mixture of one part of tincture of iodine and two parts of water. 
In a few seconds this is drawn off. In a day or two, the cyst 
inflames, though never greatly, and it ultimately shrivels and 
disappears. 



* Quarterly Journal of the Calcutta Med. and Physical Society, for Jan. 
1837 ; cited in Amer. Journal of the Med. Sciences, for Feb. 1839, p. 485. 

f Dujat, in Gazette Medicate de Paris, Sept. 1838. 

X Zeitschrift fur die gesammte Medicin. August, 1838, S. 389. 

§ Ibid. S. 405. 

|| Medico-Chirurg. Rev. Apl. 1841, p. 541. 

If Dr. A. C. Post, New York Journ. of Medicine, April, 1840, p. 369, and 
Dr. G. W. Norris, Amer. Journ. of the Med. Sciences, Feb. 1839, p. 299. 

** India Journal of Medicine, May, 1836. 

ff Bulletin Generate deTherapeutique, Nov. 1841. 



IODINUM. 399 

M. Velpeau likewise tried the effect of iodine injections into the 
sac of a reducible hernia, and repeated the experiment on two 
other patients ; but the difficulty of reaching the sac with cer- 
tainty, and the unsatisfactory results obtained in these three cases 
have been regarded as serious objections to the practice. The 
plan has been adopted by Prof. Pancoast, who has, likewise, 
used the tincture of cantharides as the material of the injection. 

Iodine is said by Coindet and Formey to have been efficacious 
in cases of impotence ; and, lastly, Mr. Key* regards it as one of 
the most efficacious remedies we possess in checking or control- 
ling the ulcerative process — the most active phagedenic ulcers 
often yielding in a surprising manner to its influence, and assum- 
ing a healthy, granulating appearance. 

Mr. John Daviesf has published the results of his experi- 
ence with the local application of iodine — especially the tinc- 
ture — in various local diseases. In erysipelas, no matter 
where present or of what description, he found the tincture, 
" painted," over the part with a camel's hair brush, preferable to 
leeches, lotions, incisions, scarifications, or caustic, j Mr. Wil- 
liam Reeves§ uses in these cases the compound iodine ointment. 
In phlegmon, where pain and throbbing only exist, one applica- 
tion of the tincture of the full strength cut short the disease ; 
and where suppuration had commenced, its repeated use not 
only checked its progress, but caused the deposited matter to be 
absorbed. Not a single case of failure occurred, where the tinc- 
ture was applied in superficial phlegmon before suppuration 
took place, and even then the pus was much less in quantity 
than where poultices were used. In extensive sloughing of the 
cellular membrane, after phlegmonous erysipelas of the lower 
extremities, the tincture proved to be a most valuable applica- 
tion. Whilst the usual remedies had no effect in checking the 
inflammatory process, the iodine arrested it at once, and gave 
the living parts a chance of casting off the dead slough. 

In acute inflammation of the joints it was more efficacious 
than any of the ordinary local applications. Over the knee — 
if the skin be delicate — it may be applied at first about half its 
strength, and be increased gradually as required. When the 
hip is affected, the strong tincture must be painted all around the 
upper part of the thigh and groin. In these cases, Mr. Davies pre- 
fers leeching the joint, and then using the iodine as the bleeding 
ceases. Mr. William Reeves|| employs the compound iodine 

* Medico-Chirurgica! Transactions, xix. 

f Practical Remarks on the use of Iodine locally applied, &c, &c. Lond. 
1839, and Dunglison's American Med. Library, 1839-40. 

J See, also, Dr. Burns, in Philad. Med. Examiner, Nov. 6, 1841. 
§ Lond. Lancet, Oct. 22, 1842, p. 119. 
|| Op. cit. 



400 IODINUM. 

ointment, in these cases. In mastitis or inflammation of the 
mamma, the tincture of full strength must be laid extensively 
over the part, as soon as the disease is discovered ; and if an 
abscess should form, its extent will be limited. In gout, its ap- 
plication cuts short the attack ; and in anomalous pains of the 
joints, supposed to be gouty or rheumatic, its effect has been 
marked. In these cases, Mr. Davies dilutes the tincture to about 
two-thirds its full strength. In chronic inflammation and en- 
largement of the joints, such as of the hip and knee, leeches are 
first employed, and then the diluted tincture is laid extensively 
over the part, and the application is repeated every two or three 
days according to its effects on the skin. In the ankle or wrist, 
where the enlargement is of old standing, an iodine lotion — 
composed of 32 grains of iodide of potassium, dissolved in a fluid 
ounce of distilled water, to which eight grains of iodine are 
added — is preferred to the tincture by Mr. Davies; — a rag 
being wetted in it three or four times a day, and laid round the 
joint, and the strength of the lotion being determined by the dis- 
cretion of the attendant. 

In inflammation of the absorbents, the strong tincture, applied 
along the track of the vessels, is generally sufficient to subdue 
the affection. Employed in anthrax, before or after incisions, 
it dispels the inflammation, and enables the parts to cast off the 
dead cellular tissue, and form granulations. It is equally appli- 
cable to boils and buboes ; — cutting short the progress of the 
latter ; or, if used after suppuration, limiting the extent of the 
abscess. In lupus or noli me tangere, the strong tincture laid 
upon the ulcerated surface has cured the disease without the use 
of internal remedies. In malignant ulce?*s of the tongue and 
tonsils, the tincture, of full strength, brushed all over the parts, 
arrested the affection no matter how threatening. The only inter- 
nal remedy was the ioduretted solution, — in doses often drops 
twice a day, in water. In scrophulous swelling of the glands, 
it either resolved the inflammation and caused absorption of the 
morbid deposits, or limited the formation of matter and assisted 
in the cicatrization of the sore. In whitlow, the strong tincture 
must be immediately painted over the whole finger or thumb, 
and the application must be repeated in twelve hours, unless the 
morbid sensation has ceased. Where this has been done prior 
to suppuration, it never fails, according to Mr. Davies, to subdue 
the disease. Should matter have been formed, a free incision 
must be made, and the tincture be applied over the finger or 
hand if swollen. 

In chilblains, the tincture, of full strength, is to be applied 
over the part affected, and beyond the boundary of the surround- 
ing inflammation. This must be repeated daily for some time, 
and the affected parts should be immersed every night in water, 



I0DINTTM. 401 

as hot as can be borne. When the ulceration looks healthy, and 
the skin around has lost its livid colour, the strength of the tinc- 
ture may be reduced. After each application, the sore, if any, 
should be dressed with some stimulating ointment. In cases 
where the inflammation spreads along the foot or leg, the affect- 
ed parts must be painted with the strong tincture. 

Mr. James Henderson* has likewise found a compound pre- 
paration of iodine useful in chilblains. The form is given here- 
after. He has generally found three applications sufficient. 

In lacerated, contused, and punctured wounds, the tincture 
was found by Mr. Davies to be preferable to every plan of local 
treatment. When the accident was one of simple laceration — 
after the blood or dirt had been wiped away, every point of the 
surface of the wound was touched over with the tincture, gene- 
rally of the full strength, and the application was extended a iittle 
distance beyond. After allowing it to dry, the edges of the 
wound were brought together with adhesive plaster, which was 
not renewed for three or four days. At the end of this time, 
part of the wound was found to be united, and the rest granula- 
ting. The granulations with the surrounding skin were washed 
over, and then dressed with common wax ointment. The cure 
was generally rapid. Where contusion only exists, the tincture 
is applied by Mr. Davies every day or two to the surface ; this 
quickly occasions the absorption of the extravasated blood. 
Where there is a combination of laceration and contusion, the 
treatment is compound. The surface of the wound and contu- 
sion is brushed over, and the edges of the former are approximated, 
and kept together by a plaster or a roller. In punctured wounds, 
from whatever cause, the tincture, liberally applied, is used with 
the same success it exerts in local diseases, and injuries attended 
with inflammation. In such cases, it should be allowed to in- 
sinuate itself freely into the wound, and be thickly painted upon 
the surrounding skin. 

In burns and scalds, it appears to act as in erysipelas. When 
the integuments are not destroyed, although the cuticle may be 
in blisters, one or two applications of the tincture, of moderate 
strength, subdue the pain and redness, after which the parts only 
require to be kept free from injury. Lastly: — the remedy is 
said by Mr. Davies to be eminently successful in ulcers. Several 
cases of chancre yielded sooner than to the ordinary treatment, 
and in malignant ulcerations about the lips, tongue or tonsils, 
no topical remedy would seem to be equal to it. In all cases of 
irritable or sloughing sores, the tincture, of full strength, must 
be applied to the surface and surrounding skin. After being al- 
lowed to remain some time, the ulcer must be covered with simple 

* Lond. Lancet, Apl. 18, 1840. 
34* 



402 IODINTJM. 

ointment in preference to a poultice. The application must be 
repeated daily till the sore becomes clean and healthy, when the 
granulations may be touched with the diluted tincture every two 
or three days. Under this plan, the cavity of the ulcer fills up 
rapidly. 

Mr. Fergusson* has published a most obstinate case of old 
ulcers, which were cured by the use of the corrosive chloride of 
mercury internally, and the tincture of iodine externally ; and 
M. Ricordt considers the tincture to be the very best topical ap- 
plication in phagedenic chancre. 

Besides these affections, the tincture has been employed with 
good effect in gouty and rhematic swellings of the small joints 
from thickening of their Yemenis, fistulous openings,malignant 
warts or adventitious excrescences, ganglions, the stinging of 
wasps, diseases of the spine, ununited fractures, orchitis, in- 
flamed urethra and chordee, inflammation of the bursas, chronic 
ophthalmia, and opacities of the cornea% (being much diluted), 
dissection wounds, &c. 

The strength of the remedy, in the several cases, must depend 
upon the judgment of the practitioner. § 

With regard to the relative value of the preparations of iodine, 
Dr. A. Buchanan|| is inclined to place them in the following 
order : — Iodide of starch, hydriodic acid, (iodine,) and iodide of 
potassium ; although he admits, that the superiority he ascribes 
to the first is perhaps owing to his having prescribed it most 
frequently. The operation of all of these is, however, similar. 
The only mode, he thinks, of explaining the similarity of action 
on the body of substancesso dissimilar in nature, is by consider- 
ing the hydriodic acid as the active principle, — free iodine being 
immediately converted in the stomach into hydriodic acid. 

Mr. B. Phillips!! prefers the iodide of iron in all cases. 

M. Mojsisovits,of Vienna,** considers iodide ofpotassium and 
the iodides of mercury to be decidedly the most valuable prepara- 
tions, when pure : but they are often, he affirms, given in pre- 
scriptions with matters that decompose them. 

In the Glasgow Infirmary, they are in the habit of preparing a 
liquid hydriodic acid ; by dissolving three hundred and thirty 
grains of iodide of potassium'm f.liss. of distilled water ; and two 

* London Lancet, Nov. 13, 1841. 

f Bulletin General, de Therapeutique, 15 et 18 Fevrier, 1841. 

\ See, also, Dr. Lohsse, Medicinisch. Zeitung, Mar. 3, 1841 ; and Brit. & Fo- 
reign Med. Rev. July 1841, p. 258; also, Dr. W. S. Helmuth, Philad. Med. 
Examiner, Sept. 11, 1841, p. 583. 

$ British and Foreign Med. Review, Oct. 1839, p. 523. See, also, Dr. Lan- 
gon, Lond. Lancet, June 27, 1840, p. 484. 

|| Med. Gazette, July 2, 1836. 

f" Lond. Med. Gazette, Jany. 10, 1840. 

** Oesterreich, Med. Jahrbuch. cited in Encyclog. des Sciences Med. Avril, 
1841, p. 8. 



I0DINUM. 403 

hundred and sixty-four grains of tartaric acid in a like quan- 
tity : the solutions are then mixed, and when the bitartrate of 
potassa has subsided, the fluid is filtered. Water enough is then 
added to make §vj. and 3ij. Each dram of this liquid acid con- 
tains five grains of iodine. The acid, thus prepared, is, how- 
ever, very liable to change, and is necessarily variable in its 
effects.* 

Lastly ; from his researches on the effects of the various pre- 
parations of iodine, Dr. Cogswellt infers, 1. That iodine and 
iodide of potassium act very much in the same way, but that 
there is still a difference, not merely in point of power, but of 
specific properties. 2. That, whatever be the proper action of 
the iodide of sulphur, its facility of decomposition gives it a re- 
semblance to iodine. 3. That the iodides of carbon, so far as 
examined, have an action peculiar to themselves : and, 4. That 
in those metallic iodides which were submitted to examination, 
the preponderance of power is on the side of the bases. 



METHOD OF ADMINISTERING. 

Iodine is not easily given internally in substance — in the form 
of pill or powder ; neither are these forms to be recommended. 
Coindet preferred it in the form of tincture ; and this is one of the 
most common modes in which it is administered. When, how- 
ever, the tincture is taken with water, a great part of the iodine 
is thrown down, and, it has been conceived, it may thus exert a 
noxious influence on the stomach ; but in the small doses in 
which it is taken, such an effect can scarcely be anticipated. It 
would seem, however, that, in the generality of cases, when 
iodine has disagreed, it has been in the form of tincture. For 
this reason, it has been given more, of late years, in watery solu- 
tion ; and, to promote the solution, the iodide of potassium (q.v.) 
is added ; or a little salt, according to Lugol's prescription. 
An ethereal solution is also prescribed. Externally, it is applied 
in the form of tincture, ointment, or watery solution, or in baths, 
or fumigations. Frictions with iodine readily occasion consider- 
able irritation of the skin, which commonly soon passes away, 
when the friction is suspended for a time. After bathing a part, 
painful rubefaction of the skin often ensues, which is usually fol- 
lowed by perspiration and sleep. Iodine is given internally, in 
the dose of one-eighth of a grain to a grain, twice or thrice a 
day. 

* Guibourt, in Revue Medicale, Aout, 1837; and Bulletin G£n6ral. de Thi- 
rapeutique, Sept. 1837. 

f Essay on Iodine, p. 1G7. Edinb. 1837. 



404 IODINUM. 

In Dr. Pereira's opinion,* the most effectual method of employ- 
ing iodine externally is the endermic, — applying an ioduretted 
ointment to the cutis vera after the epidermis has been removed 
by a blister. The plan is not, however, often used. 

The following are some of the forms in which pure iodine is 
administered internally and externally : — 

Tinetnra iodidi. 

Tincture of iodine. 
Tinctura sen Alcohol Iodii. 

R. lodini, gr. xlviij. 

Alcohol. 35° (s. g. .842) gj. 



Solve in 



Dose. — Ten drops to be given in some mucilaginous or sac- 
charine fluid, or in wine and water. 

Coindet and Magendie. 

The Tinctura lodini, of the Pharmacopoeia of the United 
States, consists of an ounce of Iodine to a pint of Alcohol. 

Mr. Durand, an able pharmacien of Philadelphia, finds, that 
forty grains of iodine and ^x. of alcohol form a saturated solu- 
tion. Based on this fact, the following formula has been given, 
which does not seem, however, to possess any advantages over 
the simple tincture. 

R. lodin. ^ij. 
Alcohol. 5j. 
Spirit, lavand. comp. Jij. 

Dose. — Ten to twenty drops, twice a day, gradually increasing 
it to forty.t 

Tinctura setherea iodini. 

Ethereal tincture of iodine. 

Tinctura iodii xlherea. — French. Ether ioduri. 

R. ./Ether, sulphuric, f.31. 
Iodini, gr. iv. M. 

Dose. — Eight or ten drops, two or three times a day. 

Magendie. 

* Elements of Mat. Med. and Therap. 2d. edit. p. 242. Lond. 1842. 
f Ellis's Medical Formulary, 6th edit. p. 93. Philad. 1842. 



405 



Decoctum cinchona cum tinctura iodini. 
Decoction of cinchona with tincture of iodine. 

R. Decoct, cinchon. f.^x. 
Tinct. iodin. gtt. xc. M. 

Dose. — Two spoonfuls, three times a day. In scrophulous 
ulcers. Rey. 

Mistura iodini. 

Mixture of iodine. 

R. Iodin. gr. v. 
Alcohol. f.Jij. 
Solve et adde 

Aq. cinnam. f.^iiss. 
Syrup, simpl. f.^iss. M. 

To be taken in the twenty-four hours, in dram doses. 

Syrupns iodini, 
Syrup of iodine. 



R. Tinctur. iodin. gr. vj. 
Syrup, simpl. f.gij. M. 

Solutio iodini. (Lugol's.) 

Solution of iodine. 

French. Boisson iodee. 

(1. For internal use.) 



Henry. 









A. 


B. 


C. 


R. 


Iodin 




gr.i. 


gr.fi 


gr-j- 




Sodii 


chlorid. 


gr. xij. 


gr. xij. 


gr. xij. 




Aquae 


destill. 


Oj. 


Oj. 


Oj. 

Solve 






(2. For external use 


•) 










A. 


B. 


C. 


R. 


Iodin 




gr- U- 


gr- i'j- 


gr. iv. 




Aq. destillat. 


Oj. 


Oj. 


Oj. 



Solve. 



406 IODINUM. 

Lugol gives formulae for the solution of the three different 

Lotio iodini. 
Lotion of iodine. 

R. Tinct. iodin. f.^ss. 
Ferri iodid. gr. xij. 
Antim. chlorid. 3SS. M. 

To be applied by means of a camel's hair pencil, after the 
corn has been well pared. 

James Henderson. 

Unguentum iodini. 

Ointment of iodine. 

Unguentum Iodatum. — French. Pommade d'lode. — German. Iodsalbe. 

R. Iodin. gr. iij. 
Adipis, 3ij. M. 

The unguentum iodini of the Pharmacopoeia of the United 
States (1842), is made as follows : — 

R. Iodini, gr. xx. 
Alcohol, ttlxx. 
Adipis, 5j. 

Rub the iodine first with the alcohol and then with the lard 
until they are thoroughly mixed. 

Linimeutum iodini. 

Liniment of .iodine. 

R. Linim. sapon. comp. f.gj. 
Tinct. iodin. f.Jj. M. 

Manson. 



407 



Cataplasma iodini. 
Cataplasma of iodine. 

R. Tinct. iodin. f.gss. 
Pulv. lin. gj. 
AvenaB farin, 3 i I j . 
Aquae destillat. q. s. ut fiat cataplasma. 

Used as a cataplasm in scrophulous tumours, and goitre. 

Iodide of Starch, Iodidu m se u Ioduretum Amyli, Amylum 
lodatum ; French, Iodure d' 'Jlmidon ; German, Iodstiirkmehl, 
lodstdrke, Starkmehl-oder-Satzmehliodure, has been extolled 
by Dr. Andrew Buchanan,* of G lasgo w. It is prepared of iodine 
gr. xxiv. ; starch, in fine powder, 3J. The iodine is first tritu- 
rated with a little water, and the starch is gradually added, the 
trituration being continued till the compound assumes a uniform 
blue colour. The iodide is then dried with a heat so gentle as 
not to drive off the iodine, and it must be afterwards kept in a 
well stopped bottle. 

Iodine, in the usual forms of exhibition, is not in general given 
in larger doses than four or six grains daily, whilst, in the above 
formula, Dr. Buchanan has given as much as seventy-two grains 
daily. 

Professor Forget, of Strasbourg, has published the case of a 
youth, seventeen years of age, who took, in 48 days, 139 ounces, 
or nearly nine pounds, of this iodide, containing 3336 grains, or 
nearly six ounces, of iodine, — being nearly sixteen grains a 
day.t 

It is proper, however, to state, that Dr. Laurie, of Glasgow,^ 
thought it proved fatal in a case, in which not more of the iodide 
than corresponded to a grain of iodine, had been given twice a 
day for five days. 

Iodide or Ioduret of Qui ilia, /orf^raQzmz/», is formed by 
precipitating sulphate qfquinia by means of iodide of potassium. 
It is a yellow precipitate, soluble in alcohol, and crystallises 
from this solution in quadrangular prisms. It has been employed 
for the cure of scrophulous tumours, in cases where iodine and 
tonics are indicated.§ 

* Lond. Med. Gazette, July 2, 183G ; see, also, Soubeiran, in Revue M<-di- 
cale, Aofit, 1837. 

f Gazette des Hopitaux, Fev. 19, 1839, and Lond. Med. Gaz. April 20, 
1839, p. 127. 

X Lond. Med. Gaz. July 3, 1840, p. 590. 

§ Journal de Chimie Mcdicale, Mars, 1836. 



408 JUGLANS REGIA. 

Iodide of Ammonium, lodidum seu Ioduretum Jlmmonise, 
Hydriodate of Ammonia (in solution), Ioduret of Ammonia 
— is formed by saturating liquid hydriodic acid with caustic 
ammonia and evaporating the solution. It crystallises with 
difficulty and is deliquescent. It was introduced into medi- 
cal practice by M. Biett, of Paris, as a valuable therapeutical 
agent in certain diseases of the skin. Several successful cases 
of its employment in lepra and psoriasis, by M. Biett, are given 
by Dr. Pennock,* accompanied by interesting remarks by the 
latter. It is administered in the form of ointment, — from a scruple 
to a dram of the iodide being added to an ounce of lard — the 
weaker ointment being used in milder or more acute, and the 
latter in more inveterate cases. The ointment should be freshly 
prepared, or kept excluded from the air as it is readily decom- 
posed. 

The other preparations of iodine are contained in different 
parts of this volume. 



XCIV. JUGLANS REGIA. 

Synonymes. Walnut Tree. 
French. Noyer. 
German. Wallnussbaum. 

The walnut tree, Sexual System, Moncecia Polyandria : 
Natural Order, Terebinthaceee or Juglandeae, is a native of 
Persia, whence it passed into Greece, Italy, France, &c. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY, 

The leaves of the walnut have been highly extolled by 
M. Negriert as superior to all other antiscrophulous remedies. 
He prescribed them to 56 patients affected with different forms 
of scrophula. Of these, 31 were unequivocally cured, IS ex- 
perienced a very manifest improvement, and the majority were 
in course of cure. Four derived no benefit as regarded their 

* Amer. Journ. of the Med. Sciences, Feb. 1835, p. 374. 
t Archiv. General, de Medecine, Avril et Mai, 1841, and Bullet. General, 
de Therapeutique, 15 et 30 Mai, 1841. 



JUGLANS REGIA. 409 

sores. Four children died during the treatment, — two of tuber- 
cular phthisis ; one of acute encephalitis, and the fourth of double 
pneumonia. The extract of the leaves, which may be ranked in 
the class of slightly aromatic bitters, M. Negrier found to be 
almost constantly efficacious in scrophulous affections, and in 
no case did he observe it exert any unpleasant action on the 
economy. 

The preparations of walnut leaves excite, in the first in- 
stance, the functions of digestion and circulation, and, according 
to M. Negrier, communicate remarkable energy to all the func- 
tions ; and he is disposed to think, that they have a special action 
on the lymphatic system. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The preparations used by M. Negrier are the following: — 

Infusum juglandis regis. 

Infusion of walnut leaves. 

This infusion is made by throwing a large pugillus (pincee) 
of the cut leaves into eight ounces of boiling water. This is 
sweetened with sugar or with the syrup mentioned below. Two 
or three cups were prescribed daily, and sometimes as many 
as five. 

Decoctum juglandis regis. 

Decoction of walnut leaves. 

The decoction may be made by boiling, for ten or fifteen 
minutes, a small manipulus (poignee) of the leaves in Oijss. 
(kilogramme) of water. It is advantageously used as a lotion ; 
and as a dressing to scrophulous ulcers, — lint being wetted with 
it and applied to them. It has, also, been used as a partial 
and general bath ; and as an injection into fistulous openings. 

Extractnm juglandis rcgirc. 

Extract of walnut leaves. 

This extract is prepared by the method of displacement. 
35 



410 JUGLANS REGIA. 

Syrupus juglandis regis. 
Syrup of walnut leaves. 

The syrup is prepared from the Extract by mixing six grains 
with an ounce of simple syrup. A syrup may, also, be made 
of the green leaves, which is more aromatic than that formed 
from the extract. To little children M. Negrier gives two or 
three dessert-spoonfuls in the 24 hours ; to adults he has never 
given more than two ounces. The ordinary dose for the last 
is from eight to ten drams. 

Pilulae juglandis regiae. 
Pills of extract of walnut leaves. 

Each of these may be made of three grains of the extract ren- 
dered solid by a sufficient quantity of the powder of the leaves. 
Two are given by M. Negrier in the day. He has never ex- 
ceeded four. 

Where it has been necessary to have recourse to frictions on 
the diseased part, he has employed the following ointment : 

Unguentum juglandis regiae, 

Ointment of walnut leaves. 

R. Extract, juglandis regise, 31. 
Adipis, Jx. 
01. bergamot. rnjij. 

The friction must be gentle, and for about a quarter of an 
hour, twice a day. 

M. Negrier properly remarks, that in all such deeply rooted 
affections, it may be necessary to persevere in the remedy for some 
time ; as not only have we to combat the effects of the disease, 
but to induce a profound modification in the constitution of the 
individual.* 

Injections of a very concentrated decoction of walnut leaves, 
of the temperature of the room whatever may be the season, 
have been used with much success in leucorrhcea by M. Vidal.t 

* Archiv. General, de Medecine, Mai, 1841, and Encyclogaphie des Sciences 
Med., Juin, 1841, p. 466. 

fEssaisurun Traitement Methodique de quelques Maladies de la Ma- 
trice, &c. Paris, 1840; noticed in Brit, and For. Med. Rev. for July, 1841, 
p. 215. 



LACTUCARIUM. 411 



XCV. LACTUCA'RIUM. 

Synonymes. Lettuce Opium, Thridace. 

German. Lattig-Opium, Lattigmilchsaft, Lattigbitter. 

The ancient Greek and Roman physicians were well aware 
of the hypnotic property of the common garden lettuce {lactuca 
sativa), the milky juice of which contains lactucarium. It 
would appear, however, that Dr. J. R. Coxe, of Philadelphia, 
was the first to propose the use of the inspissated juice in medi- 
cine.* Dr. Duncan, Senr., of Edinburgh, subsequently paid par- 
ticular attention to the subject, and recommended it as a remedy 
in phthisis, in place of opium.t The properties of the juice 
have also been investigated by M. Frangois,J a French phy- 
sician. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

There are three kinds of lactucarium. The first and best, but 
the most costly, is obtained from incisions made into the stalks, 
whence the juice exudes, which is subsequently dried in the air. 
This preparation has a bitter taste, soons becomes of a brown 
colour, and solid ; has a gummy fracture, but absorbs moisture 
from the air, becoming soft and clammy. 

The second variety is obtained by expression of the selected 
stalks, and subsequent desiccation of the obtained fluid, either in 
the air or by artificial warmth. This is said to be the variety 
most commonly met with in commerce ;§ and the third variety 
is prepared in the same manner as any common extract, from 
all parts of the plant. This is the Thridace of some. 

The first is the strongest and most uniform, and therefore to 
be preferred. 

Chemical examination shows that lactucarium contains neither 
morphia nor narcotina, as had been supposed. 

* Wood and Bache's Dispensatory, 4th edit. p. 400. Philad. 1839. 

j- Observations on Consumption, 2d edit. Kdinb. 1816. 

% Archiv. General, de Mcdecine, 1825. Journal Univer. xl. 254, and xli. 
147. See, also, Fischer, in Rust's Magazin. B. liii. Heft 1. 

§ Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel,S. 313 ; and 2te Auflage, S. 473. Stutt- 
gart, 1840. See, also, Mi-rat and De Lens, Diet, de Mat. M6d. art. Lactuca 
Sativa. 



412 LACTUCARIUM. 

It has been recently examined by M. Aubergier,* who found 
it to have the following composition : — Bitter crystallizable 
matter ; mannite ; asparamide ; free acid ; brown colouring 
matter ; resin, cerin, myricin, albumen, and gum ; nitrate of 
potassa ; chloride of potassium ; and phosphates of lime and 
magnesia. M. Aubergier regards the crystalline matter as the 
active principle of the lactucarium. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

To investigate these, Rothamelf instituted experiments with 
the Paris lactucarium. Half a grain to a grain produced little 
or no effect. From three to five grains occasioned a peculiar 
indescribable feeling of lightness over the whole body, without 
any narcotic symptoms or modification in the pulse : from six to 
eight grains increased this sensation, and caused dilatation of the 
pupils. The same doses, repeated at intervals of three or four 
hours, through the day, diminished the number of pulsations of 
the heart, and the sleep was disturbed. From ten to fifteen 
grains caused more indisposition, nausea, oppression in the epi- 
gastrium, cold sweats, anxious respiration, cold sensation in the 
chest, great dulness, vertigo, considerable dilatation of the pupils, 
yawning and stretching, slow pulse, disturbed sleep, general 
prostration ; the tongue to be coated with mucus ; disagree- 
able taste ; loss of appetite ; pains in the shoulders and bones, 
and uncertain gait; all which symptoms were speedily removed 
by a few drops of acetic ether, or a glass of Rhenish wine. 
Coffee was much less efficacious. 

Lactucarium has been extolled by numerous physicians as 
equally effective with opium, whilst it is not — they assert — fol- 
lowed by the signs of narcosis and other inconveniences, so often 
induced by the latter. Accordingly, it is frequently given where 
a pure sedative is needed — to allay cough, and where much 
nervous excitement is present. It has also been used topically 
in the form given below, by Rau,J of Berlin, in catarrhal oph- 
thalmia, and a solution, in the proportion of four grains to the 
ounce, has been advised in acute inflammation of the conjunc- 
tiva, by Guibert.§ 

* Journ. de Pharm. Jan. 1842, p. 78. 

f Ferussac's Bulletin des Sciences Medicales, xxii. Paris, 1830. 
\ Berliner. Medicin. central-zeitung, Nov. 2, 1838. 

\ Froriep's Notizen, Bd.xxi. S. 320, and Osann. art. Lactuca, Encyclopad. 
Worterb. der Medicinschen Wissenschaften, xx. 697. Berlin, 1839. 






LACTUCARIUM. 413 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Lactucarium is given internally, either in the form of solution 
or pill, in the dose of from one-third of a grain to three grains. 
Externally, it has been applied in the form of plaster or of 
ointment. 

Mistura lactucarii. 
Mixture of lactucarium. 

R. Lactucar. 9j. 

Mucilag. acac. q. s. ad subactionem. 
Perfect© unitis adfunde 

Aq. f.^vj. 

Syrup, rub. idaei, f.gss. M. 

Dose. — Two spoonfuls, every two hours, in spasmodic cough, 
sleeplessness and hysteria. Von Hildenbrand. 

R. Acid, boracic. 3'j. 
Lactucarii, 9j. 
Solve in 

Aq. destillat. f.^vj. 
Syrup, papav. f.gss. M. 

Dose. — A small spoonful — in cases of " spastic hzemoptysis." 

Hot ham el. 

Collyrinm lactucarii. 
Eye-wash of lactucarium. 

R. Lactucar. gr. iij. 
Aq. destillat. f-5'ij- 
Mucilag. cydon. gtt. xx. M. 

Rau. 



35' 



414 



XCVI. MAGNES. 

Synonymes. Magnet. 

French. Aimant, Pierre d'Aimant. 

The natural magnet was employed of old both externally and 
internally, and in the most diversified forms and affections.* 
The artificial magnet has been used within the last century only. 

It is generally on the diseased part, or around it, that the mag- 
net is applied, and the application is made for a longer or shorter 
time according to circumstances — being at times drawn along 
the nerves of the affected part: at others applied in a more pro- 
longed manner. 

It is on the nervous system — and chiefly through the influ- 
ence of the imagination — that the magnet exerts its efficacy. 
Accordingly, the class of diseases in which it has been found 
most beneficial are those termed "nervous and spasmodic" 
This is strikingly shown by the published observations of MM. 
Andry and Thouret,f Commissioners of the Societe Royale de 
Medecine, appointed to examine into the matter. In cases of 
spas7ns, palpitations, convulsions, epilepsy, tremors, cramps, 
neuralgia, rheumatism, &c, the only agent employed was the 
magnet, and it was wholly successful. These gentlemen, how- 
ever, were disposed to infer, that the magnet exerts an incontes- 
table magnetic action on the nervous system, to which, in part 
at least, the curative agency must be ascribed, and their conclu- 
sions were thought to be corroborated by cases observed by Ali- 
bert, Cayol, Chomel, Recamier, &c. The celebrated Laennec,| 
who employed the magnet in the manner recommended by Halle, 
that is, by establishing a magnetic current through the diseased 
parts by means of several magnetised plates, affirms, that he fre- 
quently found it moderate the pain in pulmonary neuralgia, 
diminish the oppression in nervous asthma, suspend spas?nodic 
hiccough, and exhibit its utility in simple neuralgia of the heart, 
and in angina pectoris. In the last disease, the application of a 
small blister under the anterior plate appeared to render the 
effects of the magnet more marked. 

It is not many years since considerable interest was excited in 

* Art. Aimant, in Diet. Univers. de Matiere Medicale, par Merat and De 
Lens. 

t Mem. de la Societe Royale de Medecine de Paris, pour 1776, p. 531, 
and Thouret, Art. Aimant, in Encycloped. Method. Partie Medicale, i. 421. 
Paris, 1786. 

X Traite de l'Auscultation Mediate, 2de edit. torn. ii. 



MANNITA. 415 

London by the success, said to have been obtained in the treat- 
ment of neuralgia, toot hack, and other affections oft he nerves, by 
the application of the ordinary magnet or " mineral magnet," as 
it was termed by Dr. Blundell who employed it.* 

It would seem, too, that owing to a considerable demand for 
loadstone, the conductors of the Bulletino delle ScienzeMediche,t 
of Bologna, were led to make inquiries concerning the uses to 
which it was put. From these it appeared, that the Ex-Bey of 
Algiers, whilst at Leghorn, in 1831, mentioned to a Catholic dig- 
nitary, Father Campagnoli, who was suffering under gout, that 
the application of the loadstone was an oriental remedy for the 
disease, and of certain efficacy. He immediately procured a piece 
of loadstone, as he had been subject to regular and frequent 
attacks of gout since 1805, and its application removed the next 
paroxysm. Since this time, he has always had recourse to the 
same remedy, and has found, that the attacks come on less fre- 
quently and severely, and that they invariably yield, so that he 
has rejected all his former plans of treatment. On the first symp- 
tom he goes to bed, and places the loadstone in close contact 
with the pained part ; he presently falls asleep, and awakes free 
from pain, and able to walk. The loadstone, which he uses, 
weighs five pounds, and has smooth sides. He has recom- 
mended this plan to other gouty individuals, who have experi- 
enced similar relief. 

The Author has witnessed the application of the mineral mag- 
net repeatedly in nervous diseases,\n persons of highly impressible 
habits ; but except in such, and apart from the effects of the ima- 
gination, he has seen no beneficial results from it. 



XCVII. MANNITA. 

Synonymes. Mannitum, Saccharum Mannse, Mannite, Sugar of Manna. 
German. Mannit, Mannazucker, Manuastoff. 

This principle, which was first discovered by Proust, belongs 
to the varieties of sugar that are not susceptible of fermentation, 
and constitutes the chief ingredient of manna. Its presence is 
not confined, however, to that substance. It is met with in seve- 
ral other vegetable juices — cucumbers, melons, celery, beets, 
&c. Yet in these it is first found after fermentation, so thatche- 

* See Lincet for 1833, and American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Nov. 
1833, p. 247. 

f Marzo et Aprile, 1835; and British and Foreign Medical Review, July, 
1836, p. 246. 



416 MANNITA. 

mists have been disposed to regard it as a product of fermen- 
tation.* 

METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Mannite is commonly procured from manna. Manna in 
lachrymis, as it is obtained in commerce, is treated with boiling 
alcohol, filtered, and suffered to crystallise : by rest and refrige- 
ration, mannite is precipitated in small, beautiful, white needles. 
The manna in tears consists almost wholly of mannite. Com- 
mon manna, on the other hand, contains but little thereof, and in 
its place has a yellow extractive matter to which cathartic pro- 
perties have been assigned : coarse manna consists almost wholly 
of the latter. To obtain mannite, consequently the manna in 
tears is selected. 

Should the administration of mannite, as a remedial agent, be- 
come more common, it may be worth the trouble to inquire, 
whether it might not be advantageous to prepare it from the 
vegetable juices above mentioned. 

Mannite, prepared in the above manner, is of a white colour; 
soluble in five parts of cold water, and in almost every propor- 
tion in boiling water ; it seems to be entirely insoluble in cold 
absolute alcohol ; is somewhat more so in boiling alcohol, and 
still more so in boiling alcohol which contains water. At from 
221° to 230° Fahrenheit, it melts into a colourless, adhesive fluid 
and crystallises on cooling. When more strongly heated, it burns, 
and is decomposed like sugar. From its alcoholic solutions it 
separates on cooling, in white, silky, shining, needle-shaped crys- 
tals, collected in stelliform roundish masses. 

When mannite is dissolved in an equal weight of boiling water, 
and the fluid is evaporated by a strong fire and rapid ebullition, 
until a small portion placed on a cold glass plate rapidly becomes 
solid, it may be poured out into shapes. 

The taste of the sugar of manna is feeble, but agreeably sweet : 
it is inodorous, or at least nearly so. According to Liebig, man- 
nite consists of 40.0228 of carbon, 7.6234 of hydrogen, and 
52.3537 of oxygen. 

Granatin or Grenadin of pomegranate root agrees so much 
with mannite in its properties, that both have been regarded as 
the same substance. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

According to Magendie,t mannite may be advantageously sub- 
stituted for manna, as it possesses the cathartic property without 

* Art. Mannite, in Merat and De Lens, Diet, de Mat. Med. 
| Formulaire, &c. dern. edit. 



M ATI AS. 417 

the nauseous flavour. The dose is two drams for children, and, 
at times, as much as half an ounce ; but, in the latter dose, Ma- 
gendie always found the catharsis too active ; for this reason 
he considers it to be the best dose for the adult. He recom- 
mends, that a syrup should be prepared from it, and that this 
should be prescribed both as a cathartic for children at the breast, 
and as an addition to other articles in cases of pulmonary 
catarrh. 

M. Solon has likewise spoken favourably of the therapeutical 
advantages of mannite. He administered it in three cases of 
gastricism — in two of them combined with castor oil — in 
which it induced, in a few hours, critical evacuations ; and in a 
case of peritonitis occasioned by obstinate constipation, its use 
was followed by the best effects. In the last case, the inflam- 
mation completely disappeared, as the constipation yielded, 
without any other agency. It was found, likewise, of essential 
service in convalescence from bronchitis and pneumonia. Only 
in two cases of females — the one labouring under ascites — 
the other under phlegmatia dolens, did mannite fail to have 
any aperient agency. This, it was presumed, was probably 
owing to both of the patients having been habituated to the use 
of powerful cathartics, and to there not being enough of the 
preparation to admit of the administration of the appropriate 
quantity. 

According to Solon, mannite may be given in the dose of one 
or two ounces dissolved in from two to four ounces of a hot aro- 
matic water, the solution to be taken warm, otherwise it forms a 
stiff, adhesive mass ; or it may be added to ordinary cathartic 
potions. He assigns it the preference over manna and castor 
oil ; first, because it has an agreeable saccharine taste, and. 
secondly, because it is always equally good ; whilst those sub- 
stances are often deteriorated, and on that account uncertain in 
their effects. It appeared to him to be peculiarly adapted for 
cases in which it was desirable to evacuate the intestines with as 
little excitation as possible. 

Magendie, in his lectures on the blood, classes mannite 
amongst the substances that promote the coagulation of that 
fluid.* 



XCVIII. MATIAS. 

A paper on the Matias Bark was read before the Medical 
Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 
at their meeting in 1840, by Dr. M'Kay. The plant, from which 

* Lemons siir le Sang, &c, &c. Translation in Lond. Lancet for Jan. 26, 
1839, p. 636. 



418 MONESIA. 

the bark was obtained, grows in great abundance in South Ame- 
rica ; but its botanical characters have not been given. From 
what Dr. M'Kay heard, it would seem to belong to the genus 
Wintersonia. It contains an intensely bitter extractive matter, 
and yields, on distillation, two distinct essential oils, which differ 
in specific gravity, and are soluble in alcohol and ether ; and but 
very sparingly so in water. The principal characteristic sub- 
stance derived from it was a bitter resinous matter. No alka- 
loid was discovered in it. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

In its native country, matias bark is extensively used as a 
substitute for cinchona in intermit tents. Its principal thera- 
peutical properties are tonic, aromatic and astringent. Dr. 
M'Kay stated, that it had been exhibited with marked success 
in dyspepsia accompanied by loss of appetite, which it quickly 
restored. In phthisis, where tonics were admissible, it sup- 
ported the strength and prevented rapid sinking. In dropsy, 
it was found to be a valuable adjunct to diuretics ; and in inter- 
mittents, to deserve its native reputation of being a good sub- 
stitute for cinchona. 

The virtues, ascribed to it by Dr. M'Kay, were confirmed by 
Dr. Neubigging, who has used it extensively.* 



XCIX. MONESIA. 

This vegetable substance has been imported into Europe, from 
South America, within the last few years; and, in consequence 
of the trials that have been made with it, by the French practi- 
titioners more especially, it was introduced in the year 1840 into 
this country. It is imported into France in the form of hard, 
thick cakes, weighing upwards of twenty pounds. These cakes 
or loaves are much flattened, and have a yellowish coloured 
paper strongly adhering to them.f They are composed of an 
extract, prepared in South America from the bark of a tree, the 
botanical name of which is yet unknown. It would seem, that 



* Lond. Athenaeum, Oct. 1840; and Amer. Journ. Med. Sciences, Jan. 1841, 
p. 209. 
| Martin Saint-Ange, Gazette Medicale de Paris, Oct. 19, 1839. 



MONESIA. 419 

a French merchant, who had dwelt for a long time in the inte- 
rior of South America, and had witnessed the surprising effects 
in certain diseases, from the employment of an extract, which the 
natives made from the bark of a tree of the country, determined 
to import it into France, and to submit it to the experiments of his 
medical and pharmaceutical countrymen.* A quantity of the 
drug was accordingly sent to Paris, and placed in the hands of 
M. Derosne. About a year and a half after this, he obtained 
some specimens of the bark of the tree, from which he procured 
an extract presenting all the characters of the extract previously 
sent to him, and identical in its composition. This bark is said, 
by M. Derosne, to be called by some travellers Goharem, and, 
by others, Buranhem ; and the naturalists, who have examined 
it there, think that the tree, which furnished it, is a Chryso- 
phyllum.t The bark of the Monesia is smooth and grayish like 
that of the plane tree ; but with this difference, that it is much 
thicker ; that its fracture is imbricated, and that its sweet taste 
contrasts singularly with the bitterness of the thin lamina? that 
are detached from the plane tree. 

The extract is of a deep brown colour. It is very friable, and 
its fracture presents the same appearance as that of a well torre- 
fied Cacao Nut. It is wholly soluble in water, and its taste, — 
which is at first sweet like liquorice, — soon becomes astringent, 
and leaves behind a well-marked and enduring acrid impression, 
which is felt especially in the tonsils. 

Chemical analysis of the bark has detected the following 
soluble principles : — Chlorophylle ; vegetable wax ; a fatty 
and crystallizable matter ; glycyrrhizin ; an acrid and slightly 
bitter matter ; a little tannic acid ; an organic acid, not studied ; 
a red colouring matter, analogous to that of cinchona ; phos- 
phates of lime and magnesia ; and salts of lime, with an organic 
acid. J The extract contains nearly 8 per cent, of glycyrrhizin, 
and 20 per cent, of acrid matter (monesin) ; and no difference 
was found by M. Derosne on analysis between the imported 
extract and that prepared from the bark. 

An analysis by M. Persoz,§ Professor at the Jlca&emie des 
Sciences, of Paris, gave the following as the constituents of the 

* Bernard Derosne, Notice sur le Monesia, Paris, 1839 ; and Sigmond, 
Loml. Lancet, 1840. 

f See a Translation of a Communication by M. Saint-Ange, in Lond. Med. 
Gazette, Dec. '20, 1839, p. 191; in American Journal ot Pharmacy, July, 
1840, and in Dungl'ison's American Med. Intel. March, 1840, p. 363. 

X Bernard Derosne, and (J. Henry, in Notice sur le Monesia, par B. De- 
rosne; and in Tableau Synopti(|tic, &0 M du Monesia, par M. Saint-Ange. See 
also, Saint-Ange, in Op. cit., and MM. Bernard Derosne, O. Henry and J. F. 
Payen, in Journal, de Pharmacie, Janvier, 1841, p. 20, and in Journ. des 
Connois. Med. Chir. Jan. 1841. 

\ Forget, Bulletin General de Therapeutique, Avril, 1839. 



420 MONESIA. 

extract: — Tannic acid, rendering iron blue, 52; gum or muci- 
lage, 10 ; sweet matter, 36 ; loss, 2. 

It has been recently suggested, that the bark of the Monesia is 
identical with that of the Quillaia Saponaria, of Chili. Neither 
the bark nor the extract would seem, however, to be identical, 
although in certain respects they resemble each other : moreover, 
the analysis of the Quillaia was made by MM. Henry, fils, and 
Bourtron-Charlard, and if the Monesia and the Quillaia were 
the same, the identity could not have failed to be detected, by 
these able chemical analysts.* 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

When monesia is exhibited internally, in the dose of from 15 
grains to a scruple of the extract, daily, for eight or ten days, it 
exerts, at first, a direct operation on the digestive passages, and 
accelerates, in a remarkable manner, the action of the stomach. 
If the dose be pushed to a dram or more in the day, and it be 
continued for fifteen or twenty days, the appetite increases, but 
a feeling of heat is experienced in the epigastric region ; and 
tenesmus and obstinate constipation may likewise supervene.! Its 
action is manifestly excitant, and slightly astringent, and as such 
it may be adapted for many pathological conditions in which 
such agencies are indicated. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

Being possessed of the properties described above, monesia 
has been used in the various profluvia, and especially in such 
as are of an atonic character. 

In chronic bronchitis, and bronchorrhcea, it has been success- 
fully employed by Alquie, Dagnac, Manec, and others, — some- 
times alone, at others associated with opium ; and, in the ma- 
jority of cases, benefit has appeared to accrue from its use. The 
same has been the result in hsemoptysis, according to Alquie. 
On phthisis, it of course exerted no direct efficacy ; but its ad- 
ministration appears to have been followed by increased tone of 
stomach ; and facility of expectoration. The first of these results 
has led to its use in languor of the digestive functions ; and it 

* See, on this subject, Drs. Chaloner and Ruschenberger, in Dunglison's 
Amer. Med. Intel. Sept. 15, 1840, p. 184-187. Merat and De Lens, art. Quil- 
laja ; and the analysis of the Quillaia, byBourtron, Charlard, and Henry, fils, 
in Journal de Pharmacie, xiv. p. 247 ; and in Amer. Journ. Pharmacy, for 
Oct. 1840, p. 210, with remarks by Dr. Carson, the editor. 

f Martin Saint-Ange, Op. cit. 



MONESIA. 421 

has been given as a tonic to females, who have been exhausted 
either by antecedent maladies, or by uterine hemorrhage. In 
one case,* where the debility was so great that syncope was 
induced on the least movement of the body, the extract was 
given in pills in the dose of sixteen grains in the course of the 
day, with the best effect. 

In chronic enteritis, it has been prescribed by Alqui6, Baron, 
Manec, Monod and others, and, in many cases with decided ad- 
vantage. Its success is said to have been most marked in 
diarrhoea, especially when owing to improper diet and several 
fortunate results have been published by M. Adrien;t and by 
Dr. Q. Gibbon, of Salem, N. J.J Even in the colliquative diar- 
rhoea of phthisis it has acted beneficially. B. Derosne affirms, 
that surprising results have followed its adminstration in the 
diarrhoea of phthisis with intestinal ulceration, after all astring- 
ents had been employed to no purpose. Notwithstanding the 
disadvantageous circumstances in such cases, monesia is said to 
have constantly mastered the diarrhoea. Dr. Joseph S. Nan- 
crede,§ gave it successfully in a case of diarrhoea of long stand- 
ing, and Dr. Burns || in two cases of chronic diarrhoea succeeding 
to cholera infantum. 

In leucorrhoea, the efficacy of monesia, as of every other 
astringent, is less marked than in diarrhoea. Where the internal 
treatment is alone employed, the astringent has probably to pass 
into the mass of blood, and in this manner to act upon the parts 
concerned, whilst in every form of chronic enteritis, it can come 
into immediate contact with the seat of the disease. Injections of 
monesia have accordingly been more advantageous in leucor- 
rhoea. M. Baron, after having employed all the ordinary means 
in a case of inflammation of the vagina, had recourse to them, 
and arrested the discharge. M. Payen gives a case in which, 
when taken internally, it augmented the discharge, but when it 
was employed in the form of injection, the discharge yielded, 
and did not recur. 

In all the cases of metrorrhagia or uterine hemorrhage, in 
which monesia has been given, it is said to have succeeded in 
moderating or suppressing the flow more perfectly than other 
agents. It has been given, with excellent effects, in these cases 
by MM. Daynac, Payen, Alquie. and Martin Saint-Ange. In 
an obstinate case of menorrhagia, of seven weeks duration, 
after the usual agents had been employed in vain, Dr. Chalonerlf 

* Bernard Derosne, Notice sur le Monesia, p. 7. 
f Journ. des Connois. Med. Cliirurg. Nov. 1840. 
± Dungrlison's Amer. Med. Library, Jan. 1842, p. 143. 
5 Philadelphia Medical Examiner, April 4, 1840, p. 215. 
|| Ibid. Aug. 15, 1810, p. 517. 
T Philad. Med. Examiner, July 11, 1840, p. 441. 
36 



422 M0NES1A. 

administered the extract in the dose of three grains in the form 
of pill, every hour and a half, until an effect on the discharge was 
manifest. After three pills had been taken, benefit was expe- 
rienced, the patient was then directed to take three more, — one 
every two hours. The cure was complete. It is proper to add, 
that perfect rest, and cold drinks were used at the same time ; and 
the same may be said of a successful case reported by Dr. 
Burns.* 

In blennorrhoza, it has exerted but little action, when admin- 
istered by the stomach ; but, when injected into the urethra, it 
effected a cure in half the cases, and diminished the amount of 
the discharge in the other half.t In a case of well marked scor- 
butus, with petechias of the inferior extremities, soft and bleeding 
gums, and frequent epistaxis, which had required plugging of the 
nasal fossce, M. Laurand obtained a complete cure, by giving, 
daily, from 24 to 40 grains of the extract in the form of pill, wash- 
ing the mouth, at the same time, with a collutory formed of a dram 
of the tincture to four ounces of honey and ivater, and inhaling, 
by the nostrils, acidulated water, containing an ounce of the tinc- 
ture to a pint of ivater. 

In two cases oiscrophula, the tincture was used internally by 
M. Dagnac, and with excellent effects. 

In ulcers of a bad character, monesia has been applied ex- 
ternally with advantage ; sometimes, in the form of ointment ; 
at others, of the powdered extract. In venereal and scrophu- 
lous ulcers, excellent effects were obtained from it by MM. Baron 
and Martin Saint-Ange. M. Manec used it with benefit in an 
obstinate serpiginous ulcer of long duration. M. Monod cured 
a phagedenic ulcer by it, which had resisted the use of the nitrate 
of mercury and the arsenical paste. M. Payen was equally suc- 
cessful with an ulcer on the lower jaw, which, for ten months, 
had resisted all treatment, internal as well as external. He em- 
ployed it likewise with much success in ulcerated chilblain ; in 
two cases of stomatitis,\ one of a gangrenous character ; and in 
cases of fissure of the anus, the result of inflammation from 
hemorrhoids. 

Two cases of purulent ophthalmia were cured by M. Saint- 
Ange ; and M. Laurand was equally fortunate in a case of gan- 
grenous sloughs on the region of the sacrum. 

M. Buchey, Surgeon Dentist, has employed the extract of mo- 
nesia in cases of caries of the teeth, the progress of which it ap- 
peared to him to retard, and, when united with opium, it seemed 
to assuage the pain more than when the latter was given singly. 

* Ibid. Aug. 15, p. 517. 

| Martin Saint-Ange, Op. cit. 

% See, also, J. G. Nancrede, Op. cit. 



MORPHIA. 423 

He recommends the use of the tincture to maintain a good state 
of the gums* 

Such are the chief diseases in which monesia has been used. 
Its employment can readily be extended to others, by bearing in 
mind the nature of its powers. 

It would appear, that experiments have been made in Dublin, 
and that much benefit had been derived from it as an astringent.t 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING, 

Monesia is generally given in pills of the extract, in the dose 
of twelve to forty grains a day ; — the medium dose, in the 
twenty-four hours, being fifteen to twenty grains, taken at twice 
or thrice. M. Martin Saint-Ange has given it to the extent of 
forty-five grains a day. 

The syrup, which contains six grains of extract to the ounce, 
is given less frequently. It is esteemed to be less active than the 
pure extract, and is preferred only in the case of infants. 

The hydro-alcoholic tincture, which contains thirty-two 
grains of extract to the ounce, has been most commonly used in 
injections, in the proportion of a dram, to a dram and a half, to 
six ounces of water. It has also been prescribed internally in the 
dose of one or two drams a day in a bitter infusion. 

For external use, an ointment, containing one-eighth part of 
its weight of the extract, has been applied to ulcers ; at others, 
the powdered extract, and at others, again, the acrid matter itself 
referred to in the analysis. 



MORPHIA ET EJUS SALES. 
Synontme. Morphia and its Salts. 

C. MOR'PHIA. 

Synonymes. Morphina, Morphinum, Morphium, Morpheum, Morphia, Mor- 
phine, Papaverine.! 
German. Morphin, MohnstofT, Opiumalkaloid. 

The discovery of this principle is ascribed to Seguin and 
Sertumer, who were engaged in the chemical analysis of opium 
upwards of thirty years ago ; but although the former may have 

* Bernard Derosne, Notice snr le Monesia, &c, &c. 

f Sitrmorid, Op. cit. See, also, Forget, Bulletin G<-n£ral de Thcrapeutique, 
Avril, 1839. 
X Jahn's Handworterbuch der Chimie, B. iii. S. 150. 



424 MORPHIA. 



first detected it, the latter deserves the credit of having improved 
our acquaintance with it, and of having attracted to it the atten- 
tion of chemists and physicians. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

The following is M. Robiquet's method :* — he boils a very 
concentrated solution of opium with a small quantity of magne- 
sia — ten grains of the latter to a pound of opium — for a quar- 
ter of an hour. By this means, a tolerably copious, grayish pre- 
cipitate is formed, which is collected on the filter, and washed 
with cold ivater. The well dried precipitate is then digested 
with iveak alcohol for some time, at a temperature short of ebulli- 
tion ; by which means a very small quantity of morphia, and a 
considerable quantity of colouring matter, are separated. The 
liquid is then filtered, and the residue washed with a little cold 
alcohol. It is then boiled for some time in pure alcohol, and fil- 
tered again, whilst the liquid still boils. On cooling, the morphia 
is obtained, which, by repeated crystallisation, may be freed from 
the attached colouring matter. 

The process of Hottot is greatly followed in France. It is a 
modification of that used by Serturner, and similar to that adopted 
in the Pharmacopoeia of the United States. In this, opium is 
exhausted by tepid ivater, and the clear liquid is evaporated to 
a density of 2° of Beaume. Whilst the liquid is still tepid, a 
small quantity of ammonia is added, in order to render it neu- 
tral or even slightly ammoniacal. In this manner, a brown, resi- 
noid precipitate is thrown down, which contains only traces of 
morphia and narcotina. The liquor is filtered, and by the addi- 
tion of a fresh quantity of ammonia to it when cold, crystalline 
morphia is thrown down, which, when collected, dissolved in 
alcohol, and evaporated, is set aside to crystallise.t 

Dr. F. Bache regards the process of the U. S. Pharmacopoeia 
as an improvement upon the last, and as being essentially the 
same with that of Dr. Edward Staples, which was published in 
the Journal of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy 4 

Mr. Brande considers the process proposed by Robertson and 
Gregory to be the simplest and the best.§ Chloride of calcium 
is added to a strong aqueous solution of opium to precipitate the 

* Annales de Chimie et de Physiq. v. 276. 

| Journal de Pharmacie, x. 479. 

% Vol. i. p. 15 : see Dispensatory of the United States, by Drs. Wood and 
Bache, 4th edit. Phil. 1839. For Faure's process, see Journal of the Philadel- 
phia College of Pharmacy, ii. 71. Philad. 1831; and for Mohr's process, Jour- 
nal de Pharmacie, and Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy, April, 1841, p. 60. 

\ Dictionary of Materia Medica, p. 383. Lond. 1839. 



MORPHIA. 425 

acids by which the alkaloids are held in solution ; it is then fil- 
tered and evaporated to the consistency of syrup, and set aside 
to crystallise ; the crystals are strongly pressed to squeeze out the 
mother liquor, which contains narcotina and other impurities. 
The pressed crystals are then purified by solution, crystallisation, 
and the action of animal charcoal, till they are obtained colour- 
less ; they consist of the chlorohydrates of morphia and codeia ; 
these are dissolved in hot water, and ammonia is added, which 
throws down morphia, and which, being separated upon a filter, 
may be redissolved in boiling alcohol, and obtained in crystals. 
The liquor, from which the morphia has been precipitated, con- 
tains codeia, together with chlorohydrate of ammonia, and some 
morphia ; it must be evaporated until it crystallises, and the crys- 
tallised mass must be dissolved in a small quantity of water, and 
be decomposed by excess of a solution of caustic pot assa ; codeia 
is thrown down, and, when redissolved in ether, may be obtained 
in crystals. See Codeia, p. 170. 

In the London Pharmacopoeia, morphia is directed to be pre- 
pared from the hydrochlorate or muriate. Take of Hydrochlorate 
of morphia, §j.; Solution of ammonia, f.Jv. ; Distilled water, Oj. 
Add the hydrochlorate of morphia, dissolved in a pint of water, 
to the solution of ammonia diluted with an ounce of water, and 
agitate. Wash the precipitate with distilled water, and dry it 
with a gentle heat. 

Tilloy, Petit, and others, have obtained morphia on the large 
scale from domestic opium.* 

The crystals are completely white, translucent, almost transpa- 
rent, and slightly opaline ; they are wholly inodorous. In the 
form of powder, it is of loose texture, and as fine as magnesia. 
It melts at a trifling degree of heat, and very much resembles 
in this state, melted sulphur ; but crystallises again on cooling, 
It is sparingly soluble in hot water ; and in cold water scarcely 
at all so. Boiling water, according to Choulant, dissolves one 
eighty-second part ; according to Jahn, only one four-hundredth; 
and according to Bally, t it is even less soluble than strychnia, which, 
he says, requires 6000 parts of water for its solution. It is more 
readily soluble in alcohol, and still more so in ether, as well as 
in fixed and volatile oils : the solutions have a nauseous, bitter 
taste. It is alkaline in its nature. The crystals appear to be 
rectangular foursided prisms. With all the acids, it forms pecu- 
liar, readily soluble, and very bitter salts, of which the sulphate, 
acetate, and muriate are the most used. 

* Art. Morphine, in Merat and De Lens, Diet, de Mat. Me"d. 
f Mcmoire de l'Academie Royale de Medecine, i. 99. 
36* 



426 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

Generally — it has been affirmed — morphia acts on the ner- 
vous system like opium, but does not exert the same agency on 
the vascular system. Magendie* asserts, that it possesses all 
the advantages of opium without any of its disadvantages. 
Ballyt took especial pains to investigate the effects of morphia 
on the organism, and the results were communicated to the Acad£- 
mie Royale de Medecine, of Paris. The most striking was its 
action on the brain, which, when sufficient doses were adminis- 
tered, appeared to cause death by sanguineous apoplexy, as 
Bally had an opportunity of observing, in one case, on dissection. 
In this, there were no traces of injection of the membranes of 
the brain, whilst under the arachnoid much albuminous serum 
was effused, and there was an extravasation of blood into the 
left hemisphere of the brain. 

This result is especially to be apprehended in those persons 
who have experienced an apoplectic attack previously. Bally 
found, moreover — which does not accord with our experience 
— that morphia was more soothing and soporific in small 
doses than in larger. It occasioned, in the latter case, cerebral 
confusion, vertigo, perversion of the senses, and a feeling of 
electric agency, which commenced in different parts of the trunk 
and also in the extremities ; but no delirium supervened, and 
the intellectual faculties experienced no alteration. In conse- 
quence of these effects on the sensorium, the energy of the motory 
apparatus suffered. By long administration, morphia, like opium, 
excited troublesome, tremors. Bally found the pupils contracted 
under its use, when larger doses were given, which is entirely 
opposed to the ordinary effect of narcotic agents. Not unfre- 
quently, when morphia was continued, the soothing and sopo- 
rific effect was preceded, for some days, by restlessness, and loss 
of sleep. Very often it excited headach. On the vascular 
system it did not act as an excitant — neither rendering the pulse 
quicker, more frequent, nor tenser. The opposite effect seemed, 
indeed, to be induced. It has no action, Bally affirms, as an 
emmenagogue ; produces no diaphoresis — which does not, by the 
way, at all accord with the author's observation — does not even 
augment the animal heat, or redden the face, but frequently causes 
itching either over the whole surface of the body, or topically ; 
in the latter case, the sensation being chiefly felt in the face, 
neck, loins or genitals. At times, the itching is associated with 

* Formulaire pour la Preparation, &c. de plusieurs nouveaux Medicamens. 
f Revue Medicale, Fevrier, 1824 ; and Mem. de la Societe Royale de 
Medecine, i. 142. 



MORPHIA. 427 

an eruption of conical wheals or bumps, which are either red 
or of the ordinary colour of the skin, and can generally be 
detected more readily by the touch than the sight. On the 
organs of respiration, morphia exerts no influence; and as to its 
effects on the digestive organs, it may be remarked, that it has 
no agency on the mouth, pharynx, or oesophagus, except that 
ptyalism has been observed to result from it. The tongue is not 
made red or dry, nor are the tonsils. It does not excite thirst ; 
but, at times, there is a sense of bitterness in the mouth, which 
is a forerunner of its effects on the stomach. The appetite is 
not diminished, except when its emetic properties are developed 
in a high degree. Vomiting is not caused by large doses only,but 
in many individuals by small doses, and it may be very violent. 
Commonly, morphia causes constipation, on which, at times, 
diarrhoea supervenes. Very frequently, also, colic is induced 
by it. 

Morphia possesses, according to Bally, vermifuge properties. 
In men, he found it excite frequently ischuria, but not in women. 
The urine, however, exhibited no change of character.* 

The author's own view of its action — when no idiosyncrasy 
interferes with its ordinary operation — is, that it exerts a decided 
sedative influence on. the nervous and sanguiferous systems ; 
and this accords with the experiments instituted on animals by 
Mr. Blake. t He found, when it was introduced into the veins, 
that it exhibited its effects upon the heart, by rendering its pulsa- 
tions slower, and diminishing the pressure of the arterial system. 

As in the case of opium, the system may, under excessive 
pain or long continued use, be so habituated to its action as to 
bear very large doses. Mr. Lingen J of Hereford, has published 
a case in which a female, under a painful affection, took scruple, 
and, according to her own report, half dram doses of the acetate ; 
and Mr. Teevan,§ of London, one of a gentleman, labouring 
under a disease of the spinal cord, attended with violent spasms 
of the muscles of the chest, abdomen, and inferior extremities, 
who took, on one occasion, twenty-five grains in the twenty- 
four hours. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

Morphia, it is thought, may often be administered advantage- 
ously, not only where opium is indicated, but where it disagrees. 



* Richter's Specielle Therapie, 2te Auflafre, S. 358. Berlin, 1828. 
f Edinb. Med. and Sur<r. Jouni. April, 1839, p. 344. 
t Lond. Lanoet, Jan. 2G, 1839, p. G80. 
$ Ibid, for Feb. 9, 1839, p. 738. 



428 MORPHIA. 

Riecke* remarks, that where diaphoresis is needed, it cannot sup- 
plant opium ; but in this we apprehend he is mistaken, at least in 
febrile and inflammatory diseases. In such cases, the author has 
observed a sedative dose of opium succeed in restoring the 
cutaneous transpiration more effectually than any other agent, 
by allaying the pathological condition on which the suppression 
of perspiration was dependent. With many persons, and in many 
cases, it possesses decided advantages over opium, but the author 
has often found where opium disagreed, that morphia and its pre- 
parations did so likewise. 

As a general rule, it may be said, morphia is proper, where 
opium, in sedative doses, is demanded; hence it is had recourse 
to in febrile and inflammatory diseases, where there is much 
pain or sleeplessness — singly or combined, and in the various 
neurotic affections. 

On account of the very sparing solubility of morphia in water, 
it is but seldom prescribed ; although Bally, in opposition to 
many experimenters, asserts, that he has found it equally effica- 
cious with its salts. As, however, this result is doubtless owing 
to the existence of acid in the stomach, and, consequently, is 
liable to uncertainty, it is advisable to give the salts of morphia 
the preference, which are administered in- nearly the same doses 
as pure morphia itself. 



METHOD OF ADMINISTERING. 

Pure morphia is only given internally in the form of powder 
or of pill, beginning with from one-sixteenth to one-fourth of a 
grain once or twice a day, and gradually increasing the dose to 
a grain and a half. If its use have been discontinued for some 
days, the dose, when resumed, must be again small, and be 
gradually increased. 



Haustns morpliiae. 

Draught of morphia. 

(Polio Narcoliea.) 

R. Alorphise, gr. J. 
Aq. destillat. f.3j. 
Syrup, papav. f.Jj. M. 

To be taken at bed- time. 

* Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. S. 327. 



MORPHIA ACETAS. 429 

Enema morphiae. 
Injection of morphia. 

(Injectio leniens.) 

R. 01. amygdal. 

01. lilior. aa. ^ss. 
Morphise, gr. ij. 

To allay pain in the ear, the suffering in acute blennorrhagia, 
and the tenesmus in hemorrhoids, &c. Brera.* 

linimentum morphia. 

Liniment of morphia. 
R. Morphia?, gr. iij. 

01. amygdal. %i. — 5' ss> 



Solve in 



To be rubbed on the neighbourhood of the eye, as an anodyne, 
in cases of cancerous and other painful affections of the eye. 

A. Poll} 



CI. MOR'PHIJE ACETAS. 

Svnonvmes. Morphince Acetas, Morphium Aceticum, Acetas Morphii, Acetas 

Morphicus, Acetate of Morphia. 
French. Acetate de Morphine. 
German. Essigsaures Morphin, Morphiumacetat. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Acetate of morphia may be obtained by mixing morphia, 
acetic acid and distilled water in an appropriate vessel, and 
gradually evaporating to dryness, at a temperature of about 
90° Fahi'4 This mode of preparation is required, owing to the 

* Ricettario Clinico. Padova, 1825. 

t C. G. Lincke, VollsUindiges Recept-Taschenbuch, u. s. w. ii. 288. 
Leipz. 1841. 

% Pharmacop. of the United States, p. 144, Phil. 1842. 



430 MORPHIiE ACETAS. 

difficulty of obtaining the acetate crystallised, in consequence of 
its extreme deliquescence. Crystallised acetate of morphia 
may, however, be prepared by dissolving morphia in alcohol, 
saturating with acetic acid, filtering the solution, and evapora- 
ting gradually in a vessel covered over with thin rag. The 
acetate crystallises in an arborescent manner on the sides of the 
vessel. 

Acetate of morphia is one of the substances, which, in the 
experiments of Magendie,* were found to promote the coagula- 
tion of the blood. 

Oflate, this salt of morphia has been highly recommended in 
arthritis and nervous affections, by M. V. Cristin,t of the Hospital 
St. John, Turin, according to a form given below. When the pains 
are relieved, or sleep is about to commence, the intervals between 
the doses are increased, or it is suspended altogether. Its good 
effects in neuralgia have been extolled by many others ; — the 
effect of the remedy being kept up for days and weeks, if neces- 
sary. Mr. BraithwaiteJ remarks, that Dr. Cristin prescribes 
it in the dose of one-tenth of a grain every hour, but that he has 
generally found it necessary to give much larger doses without 
any other bad effect than severe sickness, which was easily 
abated by creasote or excitants — as the spirilus ammonias aro- 
maticas. He prescribes one-fourth or one-sixth of a grain every 
hour or two, in severe cases, until the system is completely under 
its influence, and then keeps up its effects by smaller, and less 
frequently repeated, doses. It is questionable, however, whether 
the acetate be superior to opium. 

Dr. Francis Gerard, of Avignon, has found the acetate so 
highly useful in Asiatic cholera, that he prefers it to all other 
remedies. Of ninety-nine patients, treated thereby, eighty-one 
were cured. He found, when given early, that it especially 
checked the vomiting, and moderated the subsequent reaction, 
after which the other symptoms gradually ceased. When, how- 
ever, the resources of art had been long postponed, the effects of 
the remedy were less marked ; the vomiting and the other symp- 
toms persisted longer ; the supervening reaction was much more 
tardy, and frequently ended in a state of collapse, which, under 
the most trifling imprudence, produced an unfortunate result. 
Gerard administered the acetate at first in the dose of one-fourth 
of a grain every half hour, until the serious symptoms were 

* Lecons sur le Sang, &c, and translation, in London Lancet, Jan. 26, 1839, 
p. 636. 

f Repertorio Medico-chirnrgico del Piemonte, cited in British and Foreign 
Medical Review, Jan. 1840, p. 252. 

% Retrospect of Practical Medicine and Surgery, vol. i. Jan. to July, 1840, 
3d edit. p. 15. Lond. 1842. 



M0RPHLE ACETAS. 431 

removed, and he omitted it as soon as the spasms and the diar- 
rhoea and vomiting had ceased, or as soon as reaction ensued. 

Acetate of morphia has been much used endermically in the 
diseases mentioned under the head of Morphia. A quarter or 
half a grain or more is placed on some part of the skin whence 
the cuticle has been removed ; and it may be repeated, as the 
case may require. In the severer neuralgic and neurotic cases, 
the quantity applied in this way is sometimes very large. In a 
case of hydrophobia, reported by Dr. Burne,* of London, ten 
grains at a time were sprinkled on a blistered surface with ex- 
cellent tranquillising effects. At times, when applied to a blis- 
tered surface for several days in succession, a papular eruption 
has been observed, which quickly becomes vesicular, proceeding 
from the edges of the blister, and gradually spreading over the 
entire surface.t 

A case of traumatic tetanus has been published, which was 
cured by the internal and endermic use of the acetate of morphia.J 

It has been likewise proposed to inoculate with morphia. If 
the point of a lancet, dipped in an aqueous solution of morphia, 
be inserted horizontally about one line in depth beneath the 
epidermis, and be allowed to remain there a few seconds, the fol- 
lowing effectSj according to M. Lafargue, are observed : — About 
a minute and a half after the operation, a small pimple appears, 
with a diffuse rosy areola, and slightly itching : in about twenty 
minutes, the pimple becomes about four lines in diameter, and 
one line in thickness, and is flattened : its colour is somewhat 
deeper than that of the skin ; it is hard ; the areola very red, and 
about an inch and a half in diameter; its heat is increased, but 
the sensation of itching remains about the same. During the 
first hour, the pimple and its areola are at their highest degree of 
development, after which they gradually disappear. 

The general effects, which M. Lafargue experienced from thir- 
teen punctures thus made on the anterior part of his forearm, 
were, — heaviness of the head, frequent yawnings, clamminess 
of the mouth, and an invincible desire to sleep ; yet the quantity 
of muriate of morphia employed could not have exceeded a 
quarter of a grain. He considers, that the inoculation of mor- 
phia may supersede the use of blisters and ammoniacal plasters, 
and that it deserves employment more particularly where the 
object of the physician is to produce the local effects of morphia. 
Its influence as a rubefacient are marked, and hence its probable 
utility in superficial neuralgia and in chronic rheumatism.^ 



* Lond. Med. Gj&. April 14, 1838. 

f Dr. A. Thomson, in London Lancet, for Jan. 19, 1839, p. 632. 

X L. Piquot. .Tourn. des Connais. Med. Chirurg. Dec. 1840. 

§ Q. Gibbon, Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intelligencer, July, 1841, p. 1. 



432 MORPHIA. 

The experiments of Lafargue were repeated by M. Martin- 
Solon, with nearly the same results.* 



METHOD OF ADMINISTERING. 

The dose of this article is from a quarter of a grain and less, 
to a grain or more. Its strength does not vary materially from 
that of pure morphia. 

Liquor m orphiae acetatis. 
Solution of acetate of morphia. 

R. Acetat. morphias, gr. xvj. 
Aquae destillat. f-3vj. 
Acid, acetic. f-5ij- M. 

This formula was proposed by the authort as a substitute for 
the " gouttes calmantes" of Magendie,:); which permit the depo- 
sition of the morphia when kept for a short time. The dose is 
from six to twenty-four drops. 

R. Morphiae acetat. gr. xvj. 
Aqu33 destillat. f.^j. 
Acid, acetic, gtt. iij. vel iv. 
Alcohol. f>5J. Fiat solutio. 

Magendie. 

Mistura morphiae acetatis. 

Mixture of acetate of morphia. 

R. Acetat. morphiae, gr. i. 
Aquae destillat. f.^iv. 
Syrup, acaciaj, f.gi. M. 

Dose. — A spoonful every hour in arthritis and nervous af- 
fections, until the pains are removed. Cristin. 

* Bulletin de l'Academie Royale de Medecine, Nos. 1 & 7, 1836-7. 

| Formulary, &c, translated from Magendie, by C. T. Haden, Esq. 
2d edit, by Robley Dunglison, M.D. p. 14. Lond. 1824. Amer.edit. Philad. 
1825. 

$ Formulaire, &c. 



MORPHIA ACETAS. 433 

Syrnpus morphise acetatis. 

Syrup of acetate of morphia. 

R. Morphiee acetatis, gr. iv. 
Syrupi simplic. Oi. 
Dissolve the salt in half a dram of water acidulated with a few drops of 
acetic acid ; filter, and add it to the syrup. 

This syrup is recommended and used in Paris, in place of the 
syrupus papaveris. It has the advantage of being always of 
uniform strength. Magendie. 

It has been suggested,* that the syrup of the acetate or sulphate 
of morphia should always be made of the strength of one grain 
to the ounce ; and it is certainly desirable that uniformity should 
prevail in this respect. If this exist, it matters but little what 
the proportion is, within certain limits. 

The acetate may, also, be applied in the form of ointment ; 
and it is frequently added to glysters, in chronic diarrhoea. 
Hildenbrand recommends the following ointment to be rubbed 
on the pubesin cancer of the uterus: — 

Unguentum morphirc acetatis. 

Ointment of acetate of morphia. 

R. Morphias acetat. gr. iv. 
Ung. hydrarg. ciner. 
simpl. aa. 3U» 

A piece, the size of a pea, to be rubbed on twice daily. 

A solution of acetate of morphia, which he terms liquor opii, 
has been proposed by Mr. Houlton.t He prepares it asfollows: — 
Take two ounces and a half of the best Turkey opium ; thirty-two 
fluid ounces of Bcaufoy's acid of the strength of pickling vine- 
gar : macerate with a gentle heat for six days, frequently shaking 
the vessel ; then filter, and evaporate the fluid to the consistence 
of the extracts of the pharmacopoeia, finishing the evaporation 
by the spontaneous method. This Mr. Houlton employs under 
the name exlractum opii aceticum. To the above extract he 

* A. Duhamel, Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy, for Oct. 1840, p. 187. 
■\ Lond. Med. Gaz. Aug. 12, 1837. See, also, M. Buchner, pere, in Journal 
de Pharmacie,Fevrier, 1812, p. 48. 
37 



434 MORPHIA MT7RIAS. 

adds alcohol, five fluid ounces ; distilled ivater, thirty-five fluid 
ounces ; macerating for eight days, and filtering. 

This liquor opii is about the strength of the tinctura opii in 
sedative property, and Mr. Houlton affirms, from his observa- 
tions, that it is in no respect inferior to Battley's liquor opii 
sedativus, — a secret preparation, which has been much used. 



CII. MOR'PHItE MU'RIAS. 

Synonymes. Morphinse Murias, M. Hydrochloras, Morphias Hydrochloras, 
Morphium Muriaticum, Chlorhydras Morphicus, Hydrochloras Morphicus, 
Murias Morphii, Muriate of Morphia, Hy drochlorate of Morphia or Morphine. 

French. Hydrochlorate de Morphine. 

German. Salzsaures Morphin, Hydrochlorsaures Morphin. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

According to the last Pharmacopoeia of the United States, the 
muriate of morphia is prepared as follows : — Take of Morphia, 
in powder, gi. ; Distilled water, Oss. ; Muriatic acid, a sufficient 
quantity. Mix the morphia with the water, then carefully drop 
in the acid, constantly stirring till the morphia is saturated and 
dissolved. Evaporate the solution by means of a water bath, 
so that it may crystallize on cooling. Dry the crystals on bibu- 
lous paper. 

In the London and Edinburgh Pharmacopoeias, morphia is 
first separated from opium in the form of the muriate.* 

Muriate of morphia is in snow-white feathery crystals, which 
are wholly soluble in water. 



M ODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

It may be given in the same cases and doses as the other 
salts of morphia. 

* For Dr. Wm. Gregory's mode of preparing the muriate, see Edinb. Med. 
and Surg. Journ. for April, 1831; Amer. Journ. for August, 1831, p. 531; 
and Philad. Journal of Pharmacy, iii. 124. See, also, Mr. M. Robertson, in 
Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. April, 1832 ; and Dr. A. T. Thomson, Lond. 
Pharmaceut. Journ. and Transact., and Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy, July, 
1842, p. 154. 



MORPHIA MURIAS. 435 



The following preparations are directed in the Edinburgh 
Pharmacopoeia : — 



Trochisci morphias. 
Morphia lozenges. 

R. Morphise muriat. J^i. 
Tinct. tolut. fcgss. 
Sacchar. §xxv. 

Dissolve the muriate of morphia in a little hot water ; mix it 
and the tincture of tolu with the sugar ; and with a sufficiency 
of mucilage form a proper mass for making lozenges ; each of 
which should weigh about 15 grains.* Each lozenge contains 
about one-fourth of a grain of muriate of morphia. Dr. Pereirat 
states, that the morphia lozenges of the shops usually contain 
5T th of a grain of the muriate. It is a good mode of employing 
morphia with the view of allaying cough. 

Trochisci morphiae et ipecacuanha. 

Morphia and ipecacuanha lozenges. 

R. Morphiae muriat. 9i. 

Ipecac, in pulv. subtil. Ji. 
Tinct. tolut. f.fss. 
Sacchar. sxxv. 

Proceed as for Trochisci Morphia. 

Each lozenge contains about one-fourth of a grain of muriate 
of morphia, and one-thirteenth of a grain of ipecacuanha. They 
are used in the same cases as the last. 

* Christison, Dispensatory, p. 643. Edinb. 1842. 

f Elements of Mat. Med. and Therap. ii. 1782. Lond. 1842; or Amer. edit, 
by Dr. Carson, Philad. 1843. 



436 MORPHIJE SULPHAS. 



CII1. MOR'PHIJE SULPHAS. 

Synonymes. Morphinse Sulphas, Morphium Sulphuricum, Sulphas Morphii, 

Sulphas Morphicus, Sulphate of Morphia or of Morphine. 
French. Sulfate de Morphine. 
German. Schwefelsaures Morphin, Morphinsulphat. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Morphia is dissolved in dilute sulphuric acid. The solution 
is then evaporated by heat, and suffered to crystallize, which it 
does in silken tufts, or snow-white feathery crystals, that are 
wholly soluble in water. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The general effects on the economy in health and disease re- 
semble those of acetate of morphia, to which it is perhaps to be 
preferred on account of its greater uniformity. There is an 
advantage, however, in retaining both preparations in the materia 
medica, as when the system becomes accustomed to the one, the 
other may be substituted. 

In his experiments on the blood, Magendie* found that the 
sulphate of morphia — unlike the acetate and the muriate — 
opposed the coagulation of that fluid. 

A syrupus morphias sulphatis, a liquor morphias sulphatis, 
and an unguentum morphias sulphatis may be formed in the 
same manner as with acetate of morphia. 

The common form for the solution of sulphate of morphia is 
the following : — it is that of the Pharmacopoeia of the United 
States ; and it is to be regretted, that the strength is not the 
same as that of the Liquor Morphias Acetatis. 



Liquor morphise sulphatis. 

Solution of sulphate of morphia. 

R. Morphise sulph. gr. viii. 

Aquae destillat. Oss. Fiat solutio. 

* Legons sur Le Sang, &c. ; or translation in London Lancet, January 
1839. 



MORPHIiE SULPHAS. 437 

Dose. — A tea-spoonful (which is considered to be equiva- 
lent to about twelve or fourteen drops of laudanum), to be 
repeated as occasion may require. 



Citrate of morphia is occasionally used ; but it possesses no 
advantage over the preparations described above. 

Many years ago, Dr. Porter, of Bristol, recommended a liquor 
morphise citratis to be prepared in the following manner : — 
Beat four ounces of the best crude opium in a mortar, with two 
ounces of crystallised citric acid ; mix well with a pint of 
boiling water ; filter after twenty four hours' maceration. Dr. 
Paris speaks well of this preparation.* Magendie recommends 
the substitution of the following process : 

R. Morphise pur. gr. xvi. 

Acid citric, crystalliz. gr. viij. 

Aquae destillat. f.Jj. 

Tinct. coccinel. q. s. Fiat solutio. 

Dose. — Six to twenty-four drops in the twenty-four hours. 



A tartrate of morphia was suggested by Mr. Hadent as a 
substitute for the liquor opii sedativus, of Battley. Mr. Haden 
made it by macerating the dregs, remaining after making the 
tincture of opium, in a solution of tartaric acid. Forty drops 
acted in all respects like twenty of the liquor opii sedativus. It 
neither stimulated nor induced costiveness. 



Of late, the bimeconate of morphia has been brought before 
the notice of the profession by Mr. Squire, J but he has not given 
the formula for its preparation. Impressed with the idea, that 
the combination of the active principle of opium, as prepared by 
nature, would prove more beneficial as a therapeutical agent 
than the artificial salts, he instituted a number of experiments, 
with the view of procuring the bimeconate as free from the 
other ingredients of opium as possible ; and he asserts, that at 
length he obtained a tolerably pure salt, which, from the trials that 
have been made with it, has fully answered his expectations as 
to its superior medicinal power over the other preparations of 

♦ Pharmacolorria, 4th Amer. from 7th Lond. edit. By Dr. J. B. Beck, 
p. 439. New York, 1831. 

I Translation of Magendie's Formulary, 2d edit. By Robley Dunglison, 
M. D. &0. p. 19. Lond. 1824. 

\ Lond. Med. Gazette, Mar. y, 1839. 
37* 



438 moxa. 

opium. The salt is given in solution made nearly of the same 
strength as laudanum. 

Dr. Macleod, who made trial of it, asserts, that it appeared 
to him to be a very mild and efficient preparation, rarely produc- 
ing headach or other discomfort ; and that it repeatedly an- 
swered, in the most satisfactory manner, where opium had 
disagreed, and succeeded in some cases where other salts of 
morphia — the acetate and the muriate — had failed to give 
relief. 

Equally strong testimony in its favour is afforded by Dr. A. 
T. Thomson, who details three cases — one of neuralgic pain 
of the left side of the face ; another of wakefulness, without any 
apparent cause, and a third of anomalous pain of the hip and 
thigh, all benefited strikingly by its use. 

A preparation termed M'Munn's Elixir of Opium has been 
recently introduced into American practice with many testimo- 
nials in its favour ; but the formula for its preparation is kept 
secret ; and, therefore, it merits no farther notice here. 



CIV. MOXA. 

Synoxyme. Moxiburium. 

By the term moxa, the Chinese and Japanese designate a 
cottony substance, which they prepare by beating the dried 
leaves of Artemisia Chinensis, a kind of Mugwort. Dr. Lind- 
ley, however, states, that it is made from A. Moxa.* With 
this down they form a cone, which is placed upon the part in- 
tended to be cauterised, and is set fire to at the top. 

This mode of exciting counter-irritation has been long practised 
by the Chinese and Japanese, and by the ruder nations of the 
old world ; but it was not much employed in Great Britain and 
France until about the commencement of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, when it was introduced through the agency of a physiciant 
who had resided in India. It fell again, however, into disuse, 
until attention was redirected to it, during the last century, by 
Pouteaui and Dujardin, and, at the commencement of this 
century, by Percy and Laurent,§ and others. || 

* Flor. Med. 463. 

t Ten Rhyne, Medit. de Veteri Medicin. ; Dissert, de Arthritide, Lugd. Bat. 
1G72; and Ksmpfer's History of Japan, translated by Scheuchzer, vol. ii. 
append, sect. iv. Lond. 1728. 

\ Melanges de Chirurgie, p. 49. 

■5 Diclionnaire des Sciences Medicales, Art. Moxibuslion. 

|| See, for a history of the moxa, the author's translation of Baron Larrey's 
Memoir on the Use of the Moxa. Lond. 1822. 



439 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

Various agents have been used by different people, in "moxi- 
bustion," — for so the mode of cauterisation has been termed, 
which consists in placing some combustible substance on a part 
of the body, and suffering it to burn down. From the earliest 
ages, the Nomades employed the fat wool of their flocks, as 
well as certain spongy substances growing upon oaks,* or 
springing from the hazel ;t the Indian, the pith of the reed,J and 
flax or hemp impregnated with some combustible material ;§ 
the Persian, the dung of the goat ; the Armenian, the agaric of 
the oak ; the Chinese and Japanese, the down of the artemisia ; 
the Thessalian, dried moss ;]| the Egyptians, the Arracanese, and 
several oriental nations, cotton ;1F the Ostiaks** and the Lap- 
landers^ the agaric of the birch ; and the aborigines of this 
continent, rotten and dried wood. Hippocratesjt was in the 
habit of employing fungi and flax for the same purpose. 

In modern times, also, various substances have been used for 
the fabrication of moxas. Whatever article is selected, it ought 
to be a spongy, light, vegetable matter ; readily combustible, 
and so prepared as to burn down slowly. In Germany, they 
use the tinder — amadou — which is known to be an agaric 
prepared for the purpose ; and it is not uncommonly employed 
in our hospitals, — a small disc or cylinder being placed on the 
part, and set fire to. It is now generally used in the French 
Hospitals.§§ The match used by artillerists was recommended 
by Percy, |] || after Bontius :f 1F it is composed of hemp steeped in a 
solution of nitre. He likewise proposed the pith of the sun- 
flower — helianthns annuus — recommending, that the stalk 
should be cut into cylinders of the desired length, the bark being 
left on ; so that, when ignited, it may burn in the centre and be 
held with the hand.*** This,he called moxa devoltursAW These 
moxas, called Percy's moxas, prepared by Robinet, are usually 

* Hippoc. lib. de Affect, cap. xxx. 
f Paulas JSgineti lit), vi. cap. 49. 
i Ku.'inpfer, vol. ii. app. sect. iv. p. 36. 
§ Bontius de Medicini Indorum, p. 32. 
]| Percy, in Pyrotechnic Chirurgicale pratique, p. 12. 
% Prosper. Alpin. de Medicina /Egypliorum, lib. iii. cap. 12. 
** Voyages de M. Pallas, iv. 68. 

f j" Acerbi's Travel's through Sweden, Finland, and Lapland, ii. 291 ; and 
Linna:us, in Laohesis Lappotlica, translated by Sir James Smith, i. 274. 
XX De Affect, cap. viii. 

o§ Bulletin General de Tlnirapeutique, Jnillet, 1840. 
Illl Op. cit. p. 77. Paris, 1811. 
ff Op. cit. p. 32. Paris. 1645. 

*** Art. Moxibuslion, in Diet, des Sciences Mcdicales. 
Iff Merat and De Lens, Diet, de Mat. Med., Art. Moxa. 



440 MOXA. 

found in the London shops. They consist of pith, rolled in 
cotton and enveloped in muslin.* 

The moxa, used by Larrey, and very generally employed by 
many practitioners, is made by taking a quantity of cotton wool, 
pressing it somewhat closely together, and rolling over it a piece 
of fine linen, which is fastened at the side by a few stitches. 
Larrey advises, that it should have the shape of a truncated 
cone — the form usually adopted — and be about an inch long. 
Commonly the cylinder is shorter than this; six or eight lines — 
as, when above six lines high, the combustion is not felt — and 
about four or five lines broad. The moxas, employed by Dr. 
Sadler,t of St. Petersburg, are about half an inch in diameter, 
and three-quarters of an inch in height. They are composed of 
a nucleus formed of the pith of the sunflower, wrapped in layers 
of cotton, of various thickness, and surrounded with an external 
envelope of thin muslin ; both of the latter being previously 
steeped in a solution of nitre. They are held, while burning, by 
means of two long hair-pins, the legs of which are slightly bent, 
in order to accommodate them to the shape of the moxa ; and, 
when the latter is burned down to the place where it is held by 
the first hair-pin, it can be held with the other, and retained in 
its proper position. With this last view, Larrey J has a special 
portc-moxa, consisting of a ring to receive the cylinder, with a 
handle attached to it, and three small supports or knobs of ebony, 
placed beneath the ring, to prevent the heated metal from acting 
upon the surface. 

Mr. Leney§ soaks a piece of lint in a strong solution of nitrate 
of potassa, dries it, and cuts off pieces of the size of the thumb 
nail, which he fastens with thin adhesive plaster over the seat 
of pain ; sets fire to the opposite extremity, and then applies the 
blow-pipe. The pain during the process is very severe, but 
he affirms, that the Irish prefer it greatly to the application of a 
blister. 

Professor Grafe|| employs moxas made of wafers, dipped in a 
mixture of three parts of oil of turpentine, and one part of sul- 
phuric ether. Before applying this inflammable matter to the 
skin, it is necessary to carefully remove the superfluous liquid. 
These moxas are said to ignite readily, burn promptly and 
uniformly, and not to crepitate. 

Of late years, a plan for raising vesication on the surface has 

* Pereira, Elements of Mat. Med. 2d edit. p. 1352. Lond. 1842 ; or Araer. 
edit, by Dr. Carson, Philad. 1843. 

f Zeitschrift fiir die gesammte Medicin. B. iii. H. ii. & iii. and British and 
Foreign Med. Review, July, 1837, p. 217. 

X The Author's translation of his Essay on the Moxa, p. 5. 

\ Lond. Med. Gaz. July 15, 1842. 

!| La Lancette Francaise, Jan. 26, 1839. 



MOXA. 441 

been adopted, which, as Dr. Granville remarks, must be regarded 
as a kind of moxa.* This, he admits, is equally successful with 
the one he proposes, and which we have already described 
(p. 191), in forming a rapid vesication : " but it is, at the same 
time, so complicated, and attended by such intense pain," that, 
in practice, he says, it will not bear comparison with the prepa- 
rations which he recommends. A piece of linen or paper, being 
cut of the requisite size, is immersed in spirit of wine, or brandy. 
It is then laid on the part to be blistered, care being taken, that 
the moisture from the paper or linen does not wet the surround- 
ing surface. The flame of a lighted taper is applied quickly over 
the surface, so as to produce a general ignition, which is exceed- 
ingly rapid. At the conclusion of this operation, the cuticle is 
found detached from the true skin beneath. In cases of convul- 
sions, the region of the spine has been treated in this manner, 
and with good effects.! 

Dr. Osborne, of Dublin,J avails himself of the high temperature 
produced by lime in the act of slaking, for the purpose of a 
moxa. Some quicklime in powder is placed to the depth of 
about half an inch within a strip of card, bent and tied so as to 
form a circle. Some water is then dropped on the lime, and 
mixed with it. In about two minutes, it swells, and becomes 
dry ; and, at the same time, a degree of heat is produced, which — 
according to some experiments — may amount to 500° Fah. 
Dr. Osborne considers this moxa superior to all others ; — first, 
from the intensity of the heat, and secondly, from its conveni- 
ence, — not requiring the assistance of any heated substance, 
and being unaccompanied by the emission of sparks or smoke, 
which frighten the patient. When the quantity of lime used is 
smaller than that mentioned above, or if it be not kept on long, 
an appearance results, resembling that produced by acetic acid; 
and a thick crust is formed, which separates as the new skin is 
perfected beneath. But if the quantity of lime be large, and it 
be kept on as long as the heat continues, a complete destruction 
of the skin ensues ; and in this manner issues may be made of 
greater depth, and in a much shorter time, than by the usual 
cauterants. 

Dr. Osborne gives a case of apparent ulceration of the upper- 
part of the rectum and sigmoid flexure of the colon ; in which 
all the symptoms of internal ulceration disappeared after the 
application of a lime moxa, of about the size of a crown, over 
the region of the sigmoid flexure. In a case of incipient soften- 

* Counter-irritation, its Principles and Practice, Dunglison's Amer. Med. 
Library edit., p. 21 and p. 42. Philad. 1838. 

f Mr. C. J. Edwards, in Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal, January, 
1842. 

\ Dublin Journal of Med. Science, Jan. 1842. 



442 moxa. 

ing of tubercles ; and in another apparently of purulent infil- 
tration after pneumonia, its effect in arresting the ulcerative pro- 
cess was most decided. In a case of hip-joint disease, in which 
there was great pain, and consequent loss of sleep, the patient 
slept well on the following night, and, in a few days, had gained 
much power over the limb ; and in another case of the same 
disease, which had proceeded to destruction of the joint, and 
extensive enlargement of the parts around it, great relief was 
obtained. 

The size of the ulcer formed by it is always much larger than 
that of the lime applied. When the lime is prepared from cal- 
careous spar, the heat, produced on the addition of water, is 
sudden and intense, and the pain is proportionably urgent. For 
ordinary purposes, however, well selected pieces of lime from a 
lime-kiln answer well if fresh, but not otherwise. 

In the application of the various moxas, or of most of them, 
their agency can be so graduated as to produce either simple 
rubefaction, vesication or the formation of an eschar. Where it 
is desirable to produce the first result only, the cylinder of cotton 
may be removed when the pain becomes somewhat severe ; or 
the burning material may be held close to the surface, and be 
moved gradually along it. In this manner, a counter-irritant 
effect may be exerted along the spine or any extensive surface. 
Any burning substance — a lighted coal, for example — will 
answer for this purpose. When vesication is needed, it must be 
kept on longer ; and if it be desirable to produce an eschar, the 
moxa may have to remain on until it is wholly consumed. 
Larrey,|| indeed, advises, that the blowpipe should be occasion- 
ally employed to hasten the combustion. When the integument 
has once become disorganized, the slough will be thrown off in 
due time, leaving an ulcer. Larrey says the sloughing can be 
prevented by the application of liquid ammoniat to the burnt 
surface, after the moxa has been removed. This will do when 
the disorganization is partial ; but we know, from experience, 
that it often fails. 



EFFECTS ON TIIE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

Moxa — in its different forms — is doubtless a most valuable 
agent, where rapid counter-irritation is indicated. It resembles, 
indeed, in its action, the ammoniated counter-irritants of which 
we have already treated, and is applicable to the same diseases; 
— the only difference between them — when cauterisation is 

* Op. citat. p. 5. 
t Ibid. p. 9. 



NARCOTINA. 443 

effected — being, that the agent in the case of the ammoniated 
lotion is a potential, in that of raoxa an actual, cauterant. 

The moxa must be regarded as one of our most valuable re- 
vellents. 



CV. NARCOTINA. 

Stnonymes. Narcotinum, Narcotin, Narcotine, Opiane, Matter or Salt of 

Derosne. 
French. Matiere ou Sel de Derosne, Sel Essentiel d'Opium. 
German. Narkotin, Opian, Derosne's Opiumsalz. 

On this substance, which is one of the immediate principles of 
opium, and which has attracted the attention of many chemists 
and therapeutists, much uncertainty exists in regard to its pre- 
cise properties. It seems, that it has not hitherto been found 
except in opium. 



METHOD OE PREPARING. 

It is commonly obtained, either from the aqueous extract of 
opium, by means of ether, which only dissolves the narcotina, and 
consequently requires but to be evaporated to obtain it; or from 
crude opium, which has been exhausted by cold water : it may 
hence be obtained from the residue after the preparation of the 
aqueous extract of opium of the shops. 

With this view, the opium is twice treated with boiling 
acetic acid at 2° or 3° ; it is precipitated by ammonia, and the 
washed precipitate is purified by treating it with hot alcohol at 
40°, and a little animal charcoal ; the liquid is then filtered, and 
the pure narcotina is precipitated on cooling. 

It crystallises in very white needles; is devoid of taste and 
smell ; fusible in the manner of resins, and very slightly soluble 
in water ; soluble, with the aid of heat in alcohol, and in the 
volatile and fixed oils; very soluble in ether, which distinguishes 
it from morphia ; very soluble also in cold acetic acid, whence it 
is precipitated on heating the solution — another mode of sepa- 
rating it from morphia — and soluble in dilute acids. It is coloured 
of a vivid red by nitric acid ; and is analogous, in some respects, 
to the crystallisable resins or sub-resins of M. Bonastre.* 

* Merat and De Lens, Diet, de Mat. Med. Art. Narcotine. 



444 NARCOTINA. 

Narcotina is generally reckoned amongst the vegetable alka- 
loids ; but by some it is considered to be neuter.* Dr. Christisont 
states, that " opium contains no fewer than six crystalline active 
principles;— morphia, codeia, and paramorphia,narcotin,narcein 
and meconin, of which the first three are alkaline and the others 
neutral." 

Dr. O'ShaughnessyJ prepares muriate of narcotinaby taking 
of Bengal opium, two pounds ; Alcohol, 20 pounds. These are 
rubbed together in a large mortar, adding the spirit by degrees, 
until the opium is exhausted of its soluble parts. The solution 
is then decanted, and the insoluble part pressed. To the alco- 
holic solution as much ammonia is added as renders the liquid 
slightly turbid. Fifteen pounds of the alcohol are then distilled 
from a common alembic ; and the fluid in the still is drawn off, 
and set aside to cool. On cooling, a mass of coloured crystals 
is deposited, composed of narcotina, meconate of ammonia, 
and resin. This is washed with icater, which dissolves the me- 
conate of ammonia, and afterwards with a quart of water and 
a dram of muriatic acid, which dissolves the narcotina and leaves 
the resin. The solution is then filtered, and evaporated to 
dryness. 

Muriate of narcotina, thus prepared, is a transparent resi- 
nous mass, of a rosy colour, and brittle vitreous texture. It is 
very soluble in distilled water and spirits ; and its salts are in- 
tensely bitter. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

These have been so contradictory, that it has been conceived 
the same preparations cannot have been used by different ob- 
servers^ 

According to Magendie,j| morphia is the anodyne principle of 
opium, and narcotina the exciting. When a grain of narcotina 
dissolved in oil was given to a dog, it produced a state of stupor, 
which superficial observers might readily confound with sleep ; 
but it differed evidently from sleep ; the animal's eyes were open ; 
the respiration was not deep as in sleep, and it was impossible to 
arouse it from its sluggish condition. Death generally took place 
in twenty-four hours. When combined with acetic acid, it pro- 
duced quite different effects. Animals could bear a dose of even 

* Christison, Dispensatory, p. 672, Edinb. 1842. 
t Ibid, p. 671. 

X Calcutta Quarterly Journal, and Lond. Lancet, July 20, 1839, p. 606. 
§ Ibid, and Diet, des Sciences Medicales, xxxiv. 298. 
|| F^rmulaire pour la Preparation, &c. de plusieurs nouveaux Me"dica- 
mens. 



NARCOTINA. 445 

twenty-four grains without dying, and whilst under its influence, 
they were agitated by convulsions like those which camphor in- 
duces — exhibiting the same signs of fright, the same backward 
motions, foaming at the mouth, convulsions of the jaws, &c. 
When morphia and narcotina were both given at the same time, 
the different effects of each occurred together. A grain of mor- 
phia, for example, and a grain of narcotina, dissolved in acetic 
acid, were placed in the pleura of a dog. The animal soon be- 
came drowsy and fell asleep under the influence of the morphia ; 
but a singular and remarkable strife appeared to go on for an 
hour and a half, between the stimulating effects of the narcotina 
and the anodyne effects of the morphia. At length, however, 
the animal slept soundly, being probably, Magendie suggests, 
under the influence of the morphia alone. His opinion is, that 
narcotina is injurious when not united with an acid, and very 
exciting when so united. 

M. Orflla — the celebrated toxicologist — it appears, has en- 
tertained various views upon the action of narcotina; at one 
time considering it inert, at another to possess the same action 
as morphia ; and at another, to concur, when combined with 
morphia, in the properties of opium, but to a slight degree — since 
opium, deprived of narcotina, is not less deleterious — and to pos- 
sess a different modus operandi from opium, without, however, 
our being able to regard it as the exciting principle.* 

Owing to all these uncertainties connected with it, narcotina 
is little if at all employed in medicine. It would seem, however, 
that the exciting properties of opium do not appertain exclu- 
sively to it ; for, as has been elsewhere remarked, there are many 
persons, who are as disagreeably affected by morphia alone as 
they are by opium which contains both morphia and narcotina. 

The salts of narcotina have been employed successfully as an 
antiperiodic, especially in intermit tents J and Dr. O'Shaugh- 
nessyj has laid before the Medical Society of Calcutta, the results 
of his experience with them. Sixty cases were treated, of which 
all but two were successful. Dr. O'Shaughnessy remarks far- 
ther, that, besides the sixty cases recorded, more than one hun- 
dred ague patients had been treated by his pupils and acquaint- 
ances with perfect success by the remedy. 

* Mcrat and De Lens, Op. cit., and Orfila, Toxicologic Gencrale, ii. 69. 

f Dr. Roots, London Lancet, Sep. 1832, and T. W. Jeston, Ibid. Oct. G, 
1832, p. 41. 

X India Journal of Medical Science, Sep. and Nov. 1838, and British and 
Foreign Medical Review, No. xv. for July, 1839, p. 263. 



38 



446 NUX VOMICA. 



CVI. NUX VOMICA. 

Synonymes. Vomic Nut, Poison Nut, Bachelor's Buttons. 
French. Noix Vomique. 
German. Krahenaugen. 

EXTRACTUM NUC1S VOMICiE ALCOHOLICUM. 

Synonymes. Extractum Nucis Vomicae Resinosum, E. Nucis Vomicae Re- 

sinosum. Spirituous, Resinous or Alcoholic Extract of Nux Vomica. 
French. Extrait Alcoolique de Noix Vomique. 
German. Geistiges Extraktder Krahenaugen. 

In the year 1809, Magendie discovered, that one entire class 
of vegetables — the bitter strychnos — has the power of exciting 
the spinal marrow, without implicating, except indirectly, the 
functions of the brain.* Since then, many have confirmed the 
observations of Magendie, and have attended especially to its 
agency in various diseases. The preparation of the strychnos, 
most used — if we except the active principle — has been the 
alcoholic extract of the nux vomica. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Take any quantity of rasped nux vomica ; exhaust it by re- 
peated macerations in alcohol of 40° (.817), and evaporate it 
slowly to the consistence of an extract. Alcohol of less strength 
may be used, but, according to Magendie, the product will be 
proportionably less active. A dried alcoholic extract is made by 
dissolving in water the alcoholic extract made by means of alco- 
hol at 36° (.837) ; filtering and evaporating in appropriate dishes, 
as in making the dry extract of bark. 

The Extractum Nucis Vomica of the Pharmacopoeia of the 
United States is directed to be prepared as follows : — Take of 
Nux vomica, a pound ; Alcohol, a sufficient quantity. Expose 
the nux vomica to steam till it is softened, then, having sliced and 
dried it, grind into powder. Introduce it into an apparatus for 
displacement, and pour alcohol upon it gradually until the liquid 
passes without bitterness. Distil off the greater part of the 
alcohol from the filtered liquor, and evaporate the residue to 
the proper consistence.! 

* Examen de Paction de quelques vegetauxsur la moelle epioiere. Paris, 
1809; and Formulaire, &c. 
f Pharmacopoeia of the United States, p. 352, Philad. 1842. 



NUX VOMICA. 



447 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

According to Magendie, a grain of this extract, absorbed from 
any part of the body, or mixed with food, promptly destroys a 
dog of considerable size, by inducing paroxysms of tetanus, 
which, by their continuance, arrest respiration sufficiently long 
to induce complete asphyxia. When the dose is much stronger, 
the animal appears to die entirely from the action of the nux 
vomica on the nervous system.* 

If an animal be touched whilst under the action of the sub- 
stance, it experiences a commotion similar to that of a strong 
electric shock, and this takes place each time the contact is re- 
newed. On dissection, no morbid appearances exist which can 
account for death. 

When introduced into the frog's stomach, Dr. Lombard,! of 
Geneva, found, that it produced tetanic convulsions, which, in a 
few hours, caused death. The contractions of the heart were 
sometimes strong and complete, sometimes irregular, tumultuous, 
and intermitting ; always diminished in frequency. Applied to 
the heart itself, it slightly stimulated it, rendering the pulsations 
more energetic and frequent, whence Dr. Lombard concludes, 
that the nux vomica cannot be used with advantage in any dis- 
eases of the heart ; for, although it diminishes the frequency of 
the pulsations, it renders them irregular. 

The action of the extract on healthy man is the same as that 
described by Magendie, and if the dose be sufficiently large, 
death speedily follows with thesame symptoms. J In those that are 
affected with paralysis, the effect is also the same ; but what is 
singular, it is particularly manifested on the paralysed parts by 
tetanic convulsions, and a feeling of creeping, which indicate the 
operation of the remedy : a local perspiration is also often observ- 
ed to break out on some parts of the body. When administered in 
cases of hemiplegia, the contrast between the two sides of the 
body is rendered striking : whilst the sound side remains at rest, 
the other may be violently agitated ; tetanic shocks may super- 
vene and a copious perspiration break out. In a female, Ma- 
gendie saw the affected side covered by a peculiar eruption, 
whilst the other side afforded no trace of it. There is a differ- 
ence even between the two sides of the tongue, a decidedly bit- 
ter taste being occasionally perceived on the one, whilst the 
other exhibits nothing similar. 

* Segalas, in Journal de Physiologic par Magendie, Oct. 1822. 

| Gazette MCdicale de Paris, Oct. 10, 1835. 

t See the details of two cases of poisoning by nux vomica, in Lond. Med. 
Rep. xix. 448 and 45G ; Christison on Poisons, and Brande, Dictionary of 
Materia Medica, p. 375. Lond. 1839. 



448 NUX VOMICA. 

If a much larger dose be given, both sides of the body parti- 
cipate, but unequally, in the tetanic spasms, so that the patient 
is sometimes thrown out of bed by the violence of the contrac- 
tions. When given in very small doses, it has not any percep- 
tible effects immediately, and some days elapse before its advan- 
tageous or noxious properties can be appreciated. 

According to Magendie,* the extract may be given in all dis- 
eases that are attended ivith debility, general or local, and in 
paralysis of all kinds, general or partial. He himself observed 
excellent effects from it in marked cases of debility of the 
genital organs, incontinence of urine, &c. He also used it with 
advantage in several cases of partial atrophy of the upper and 
lower extremities. As regards its administration in cases of 
paralysis succeeding to apoplexy, he remarks, that it should not 
be given until some time after the coup de sang in the brain, 
which occasioned the palsy ; and that even then beneficial re- 
sults can be expected only when no marked organic mischief 
exists ; indeed, in the latter case, he considers the disease irre- 
mediable, and that bad effects might result from pushing the 
remedy. 

The efficacy of the alcoholic extract of nux vomica in various 
forms of paralysis has been confirmed by many observers. Even 
before Magendie had employed it, Fouquier,t had given it in 
several cases, with the most satisfactory results. Since then, we 
have had the testimonies of Chauffart,| Gendron,§ Perrussel, 
Recamier, Mauricet, Baxter,|| Galli, Haurf, Wenneis, Burkard, 
Petrequin,1T Gellie,** and numerous others in its favour. 

The Author's own experience with it in cases of hemiplegia 
has not been limited ; yet although he has succeeded in inducing 
tetanic movements in the limb, he has not been satisfied that 
much advantage was derived from it ;tt and, in some cases, it 
appeared to induce serious encephalic excitement. After effusion 
has occurred into the encephalon time is required for its absorp- 
tion, and but little beneficial agency can be expected from any 
remedy. Nor are the results of the experiments and observa- 
tions of Jahn by any means in accordance with those of the 
practitioners above mentioned. He tried it in numerous cases of 

* Formulaire pour la Preparation, &c. de plusieurs nouveaux Medica- 
mens, &c. 

+ Bulletin de la Faculte de Medecine, &c. vol. v. 1818. 

\ Journ. Gener. de Med. Oct. 1824. 

|| Ibid. Nov. 1829. 

|| New York Medical Repos. vol. viii. 

IF Gazette Medicale de Paris, Oct. 27, and Nov. 3, 1838, and Bulletin 
General de Therapeutique, Mars. 1840. 

** La Lancette Franchise, Aout 29, 1837. 

ff See the Author's Practice of Medicine, ii. 262. Philad. 1842. Also 
Chauffart, in Op. cit. 



NUX VOMICA. 449 

paralysis, but affirms, that he did not see any good effect from 
it ; and, with the exception of two cases, did not notice the 
slightest action, although the extract was carefully prepared ac- 
cording to the formula given by Magendie. Yet, he remarks, 
he was by no means sparing in the dose. In the two cases in 
which a change seemed to be induced, there was an evident in- 
crease of the paralysis. 

This discrepancy, as well as other evidences of the same con- 
trariety of experience, may doubtless have been partly owing to 
difference in the strength and quality of the preparation ; and 
hence, according to some, the value of strychnia — its active 
principle — which is not liable to as much uncertainty.* Dr. 
Christison,t however, affirms, that " there seems no particular 
reason why the powder and extract should have been displaced 
by the principle strychnia ; for their effects are precisely the 
same ; and the principle is not only troublesome to prepare, but 
likewise, being seldom pure, is liable to the objection of irregular 
strength, which is brought against the galenical preparations of 
the drug." 

In cases of partial paralysis, as in colica pictonum, amauro- 
sis^ palsy of the rectum, &c, both the alcoholic extract of mix 
vomica and its active principle have been used and with good 
effect. (See Strychnia.) 

Dr. Cerchiari§ treated two cases of incontinence of urine suc- 
cessfully with the extract. The first was that of a girl nineteen 
years of age — who, from her infancy, had passed her urine in- 
voluntarily every night in her sleep. She was ordered the third 
of a grain of the extract in pill, three times a day ; and in eight 
days the cure was complete. The second case was that of a 
young married female, whose urine flowed involuntarily, day 
and night, after her first delivery. As there was no fistulous 
opening to account for the involuntary discharge, and it appeared 
to arise from weakness of the neck of the bladder, in consequence 
of contusion by the head of the child, the extract was adminis- 
tered in the same doses as in the preceding case, and in fifteen 
days the cure was complete. Mondiere, in cases of incontinence 
of urine dependent upon atony, prescribed it advantageously in 
association with black oxide of iron.|| 

M. PetrequiuH found, that local anaesthesia or loss of sensibi- 

* Richter's Specielle Therapie, u. s. w. B. x. S. 352. Berlin, 1628. 
f Dispensatory, p. 658, Bdinb. 1842. 

X Petrequin <iud Miquel, in Bulletin General de Thcrapeutique, Juillet, 
1838. 
§ Gazette Mcdrcale, Avril 11, 1838. 

U A. Bouchardat, Annuaira de Tht-rap. pour 1841, p. 8. Paris, 1841. 
If Bulletin General de Therapeutique, Mars, 1840. 
38- 



450 NUX VOMICA. 

lity in a part yielded, in numerous instances, to embrocations 
of the tincture referred to hereafter. 

Cazenave gave the extract successfully in a case of St. Vitus'* 
dance, which had resisted every other remedy. Sir Charles 
Scudamore and Mr. Pidduck* found it useful in neuralgia, the 
former especially in neuralgia faciei. Vogt gave it — not with- 
out advantage — in cardialgia ; Hildenbrand in epilepsy : by 
the Russian and Polish physicians it was administered advan- 
tageously in choleric diarrhoea, and by many it has been strongly 
advised in chronic diarrhoea and dysentery, \ as well as in dys- 
pepsia, in the varieties termed pyrosis and gastrodynia, espe- 
cially when they appeared to proceed from morbid irritability 
of the nerves of the stomach,\ as in the vomiting of the pregnant 
female.^ (See the article Strychnia.) 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The best form for exhibiting the alcoholic extract of mix vo- 
mica, according to Magendie, is in pill, when '.• r e are desirous of 
inducing the tetanic convulsions. Each pill may contain a grain. 
One or two pills may be given at first, and the dose ue daily aug- 
mented until the required effect is induced. It may then be dis- 
continued to avoid accidents. It is better, he thinks, to give the 
pills in the evening, as night is the most favourable time for ob- 
serving the phenomena we are desirous of inducing. It is some- 
times necessary to increase the dose to twenty or thirty grains, 
before the tetanic effects supervene, but commonly from four to 
six grains are sufficient. Esquirol saw two cases, in one of which 
death took place after eighteen grains; in the other, after five : 
the stomach and bowels were found inflamed. Dr. Elliotson 
began with half a grain of a well prepared extract, and increased 
the dose every day, or every other day, by a quarter of a grain ; 
but none of the patients bore a greater quantity than seven grains, 
and few more than four. 

If from any cause the administration of the remedy has been 



* Lond. Med. Gazette, Aug 7, 1840. 

| Most's Encyclopadie, 2te Auflage, Art. Dysenteria, i. 573. Leipz. 1836. 
(Jeddings, N. American Archives, No. 2, Nov. 1834. Roots, in St. Tho- 
mas's Hospital Reports, No. iii. for April, 1836; and Hufeland, in Bally, 
Bulletin General de Therapeutique. F vrier, 1838. 

\ Mellor, in Med. Gaz., Mar. 4, 1837, p. 850. Dr. H. S. Melcombe, ibid. 
Mar. 25, 1837, p. 964; and Dunnlison's American Medical Intell. July 1, 
1837, p. 124. Dr. M. Huss, in Zeitschrift fur die gesammte Medicin. May, 
1837, 393, and Amer Med. Intell. Aug. 1, p. 162. 

\ Krogher, in Annuaire de Therapeutique, pour 1842, par A. Bouchardat, 
p. 39. Paris, 1842. 



NUX VOMICA. 451 

interrupted for some days, it is necessary to recommence with the 
small doses, and to increase them again gradually as before. 

When it is desirable to produce only the slow effects of the 
remedy, a grain or half a grain daily is sufficient. M. Petrequin* 
begins with one-eighth of a grain for a dose, and gradually in- 
creases it to two, three, and even five grains in the course of the 
day. 

Magendie directs a tincture to be made from the extract — the 
Tinctnra Nucis Vomicse, T. Stryphnos^ T. Nucum Vomicarum, 
which has been introduced into some of the pharmacopoeias. It 
is made by taking three grains of dried alcoholic extract ofnux 
vomica, and dissolving it in an ounce of alcohol at 36° (.S37). 
It is given by drops, and in mixtures, in those cases, in which the 
alcoholic extract itself is indicated. 

M. Petrequinf also employs a tincture of nux vomica, which 
he prepares with four ounces of the powder and a quart of brandy. 
This is used altogether externally as an embrocation to, and 
around, palsied parts. 

Tinctnra nncis vomicae composita. 

Compound tincture ofnux vomica. 

R. Extract, nuc. vomic. alcohol, gr. xxiv. 
Camphorse, 3j. 
Tinct. pyrethri. f.jfj. M. 

Dose. — Twenty drops, four times a day, with arnica tea, in 
cases of paralysis. Vogt. 

R. Tinct. nucis vomicse, 

cantharid. 

Napth. phospharat4 ^ij. M. 

Dose. — Thirty drops, three or four times a day, with arnica 
tea, in the paralysis of torpid subjects. Vogt. 

Mistura nucis vomica). 

Mixture of nux vomica. 

ljL Extract, nuc. vomic. alcohol, gr. ij. — iv. — vj. 
Aquae melissir:, f.5vj. 
Mucilag. acac. f.5ss. M. 

* Op. cit. 
t Op. citat. 

% Naphtha phosphorala, . Wilier sulphuricus phosphorai 'us, ismade by dissolving 
twenty-eight grains of phosphorus in four ounces of rectified ether. 



452 nux vomica. 

Dose. — Two spoonfuls, every two hours, in epilepsy. 

Hildenbrand. 

A similar form is recommended by Richter* in dysentery. Two 
table-spoonfuls every two hours. 

R. Tinct. nucis vomicae, gtt. ij. 
Aquae lauroceras, 3J- M. 

Dose. — Ten drops every morning and evening, in the vomit- 
ing of pregnancy. Kroyher. 

Pilulae nucis vomicae. 

Pills of nux vomica. 

R. Ext. nuc. vomic. alcohol. 9j. 
Ext. glycyrrhiz. 9vij. 
Misce et fiant pilulae lxxx. 

Dose. — Two to six, two or three times a day, in paralysis. 

Pilulae nucis vomicae ferruginosae. 
Ferruginous pills of nux vomica. 

R. Extract, nucis vomic. alcohol, gr. vj. 
Ferri oxid. nigr. 5j. M. 
et divide in pil. xxiv. 

Dose. — Three, daily, in incontinence of urine dependent upon 
atony. Mondiere. 

Pulvcres nucis vomicae. 

Powders of nux vomica. 

R. Bismuth, sub-nitrat. 

Ext. nucis vomicae alcohol, aa. gr. ss. 
Magnes. carbonat. gr. iij. 
Sacch. gr. xv. 
01. menth. pip. gtt. ij. 
Misce, et fiat pulvis. 

Dose. — One, every three hours, in cramp of the stomach. 



* DiespecielleTherapie, ii. 133. tierl. 1821. See, also, Joy, in Tweedie's 
Library of Medicine, v. 2%, Lond. 1840 ; or 2d Amer. edit. Philad. 1842. 



OLEUM JECORIS ASELLI. 453 

R. Acacise, 

Sacchar. aa. gr. xij. 

Nucis vomic pulv, gr. iij. M. et fiat pulvis. 

Dose. — One of these powders to be repeated according to 
circumstances in the twenty-four hours, in diarrhoea and dysen- 
tery. Hufeland. 

Embrocatio nucis vomica. 

Embrocation of mix vomica. 

R. Tinct. nucis vomicae, f.gj. 

Liquor, amnion, caust. f-^ij- M. 

To be rubbed on the paralysed limbs, and on the surface, in 
cholera. See Strychnia, and its preparations. 



CVII. O'LEUM JECORIS ASEL'LI. 

Synonymes. Oleum Morrhua?, O. Jecinoris Aselli, Codliver Oil, Cod Oil. 
French. Huile de Morue, Huile de Foie de Poisson. 

German. Stockfischleberthran, Berger Thran, Gichtthran, Leberthran, Kab- 
liauthran. 

The animal fat, which appears under this name in commerce, 
is obtained from several of the fishes belonging to the genus 
Gadas, order Malacopterygii thoracici, but especially from the 
codfish (Gadus morrhua); the Torsk (Gadus callarias) ; the 
Coalfish (Gadus Carbonarius), and the Burbot {Gadus lota). 

At Anvers, it is said by M. Gouzee* to be prepared from the 
liver of a species of Ray — the Raja Pastinaca, and of the Skate. 

Several varieties of the oil are met with in commerce, which 
differ from each other by their brighter or darker hue, and by 
their greater or less transparency. The clearest sort is admitted 
into the shops of continental Europe, especially, under the name 
Oleum jecoris aselli album sen depuratum : as a remedial agent 
itis more used than the darker variety, although several physi- 
cians affirm, that they have found the latter more efficacious.! 

It would seem that only one variety is to be met with in com- 

* Bullet. Mod. Beige,. Janvier, 1338. 

\ See M. Taufllied, in Gazette Mcdicale de Paris, Aout 12, 1837. 



454 OLEUM JECORIS ASELLI. 

merce, either in London or this country. It is probably the 
second, and is used by curriers for dressing leather. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

According to Riecke,* the oil is obtained by exposing to the 
sun the livers of the fishes above mentioned, cut in slices, and col- 
lecting the fixed oil that runs out. That which is first obtained 
resembles fine olive or poppy oil, and is called " yellow codliver 
oil" — Oleum jecoris aselli flavum (German. Hellblanker 
Leber thr an). If the livers are running gradually to putrefaction, 
the oil becomes of a chestnut-brown colour — Oleum jecoris 
aselli subfuscojlavum — (German. Braunkblanker Thr an) ; 
and, again, after the oil has been obtained by the above methods, 
some can still be procured by boiling the livers, which constitutes 
the Oleum jecoris aselli fuscumA 

At Ne\vhaven,near Edinburgh, the fishermen simply boil the 
livers in an iron pot, and then filter the oil through a towel con- 
taining a little sand.J 

Mr. Donovan§ recommends the following process. Take any 
quantity of livers of cod ; throw them into a very clean iron pot ; 
and place it on a slow fire ; stir them continually until they break 
down into a kind of pulp : water and oil will have separated. 
When a thermometer plunged in the pulp shall have risen to 1 92°, 
the pot should be taken from the fire, its contents transferred to 
acanvas bag, and a vessel placed underneath. Oil and some water 
will run through : after twenty-four hours, separate the former 
by decantation, and filter through paper. 

The properties of codliver oil are said to be different in the 
different varieties met with in commerce. The colour varies 
from a bright yellow to a reddish-brown ; and the oil is some- 
times clear, but, at others, more or less turbid. The bright has 
the consistence of poppy oil ; the brown is thicker. The smell 
is weaker in the former ; in the latter, it resembles that of old 
salt herrings. The taste of the brown is an empyreumatic 
bitter: and resembles train oil ; is somewhat acrid, and remains 
for a time on the tongue ; that of the clearer oil is much less 
disagreeable. Litmus paper is feebly reddened by the clear, 

* Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. vv. S. 351, and 2te Auflage, S. 538. Stutt- 
gart, 1840. 

f For the analysis of the yellow and brown varieties, by Marder, see Riecke, 
Die neuern arzneimeittel, u. s. w. 2te Auflage, S. 541, Stuttgart, 1840; or 
Pereira, Op. eit. p. 1865. 

% J. H. Bennett, cited by Pereira, Elements of Mat. Med. and Therap. ii. 
1866 ; or Amer. edit, by Dr. Carson. Philad. 1843. 

§ Dublin Journal of Medical Sciences, July, 1840, p. 363. 



OLEUM JEC0R1S ASELLI. 455 

considerably so by the brown variety. Both sorts are soluble 
in alcohol and ether. 

According to Messrs. Gouzee and Gmelin the brightest oil 
ought to be employed internally ; but MM. Trousseau and 
Pidoux* think that the limpid oil has no medical virtue. They 
prefer either the second, or that which is obtained by ebullition, 
and has a disagreeable acrid taste. Such, too, appears to be the 
opinion of Richter,t DelcourJ and others. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The oil, prepared by Mr. Donovan's process, is of a pale 
yellow colour ; its smell is weak, and resembles that of a cod 
boiled for the table when in excellent condition. Its taste is 
bland, by no means disagreeable, and totally devoid of ran- 
cidity. It is very liquid. Its specific gravity, in Mr. Donovan's 
trials, was 0.934, although in all the published tables of specific 
gravities it is stated to be 0.923.§ In cold weather, it deposits 
much stearine, which ought not to be separated. 

Mr. Donovan has obtained as much as a gallon of pure oil 
from twenty-eight pounds of livers, the produce of fifty cods ; 
and he concludes, that in preparing codliver oil for medical pur- 
poses, three great points are to be attended to — 1. The livers 
must be perfectly healthy ; 2. They must be as fresh as possi- 
ble, the least putrescency being injurious ; and 3. The heat at 
which the separation of the oil is effected must not exceed 192°. 

Codliver oil has long been used as a popular remedy in 
northern Germany, especially in Westphalia — as well as in 
Holland and England ; but it is only of comparatively late 
years that it has attracted the attention of physicians. In Eng- 
land, it appears to have been first recommended by Percival,|| 
and in Germany by Schenck.ll When administered internally, 
it excites a disagreeable taste in the mouth, and nausea. Yet 
patients soon become accustomed to it; and Riecke"** affirms, 
that he has frequently seen children take it without repugnance. 
When the nausea is once overcome, the oil does not oppress the 
stomach, except when it is embarrassed, or the digestive powers 
are greatly enfeebled. Nor does it seem to destroy the appetite 

* Traite de Therapeutique, &p.., 2de partie, p. 111. 
f Medicinisch. Zeitung, No. 20, Juillet, 1835. 
I Bulletin Medical Beige, Juin, 1841, p. 249. 
§ Donovan. Op. fit. 

|| Essays, Medical, Philosophical and Experimental, Warrington, 1790. 
vol. 2. 

T[ Hufeland's Journal, 1822 and 182G. 
** Op. cit. 



456 OLEUM JECORIS ASELLI. 

by continued use. Yet many persons, especially adults — less 
so children — according to Kopp, reject it immediately. It is 
necessary for the digestive powers to be energetic when it has 
to be given for any length of time. To those, whose digestive 
organs are very irritable, Kopp recommends that Bourdeaux 
wine should be taken after it. 

Codliver oil has no manifest effect on any of the secretions, 
except occasionally on the urinary and cutaneous depurations; 
and on the healthy organism it appears to excite no marked 
change. In strumous affections, however, its favourable influ- 
ence is said to be striking, as well as in rachitic, rheumatic, and 
gouty disorders. In such cases, it is said, by the German 
writers, to excite powerfully the reproductive or nutritive func- 
tions, when administered for a proper length of time.* The fa- 
vourable effects are, in general, not rapidly exhibited ; and to 
produce a cure, according to Kopp, the remedy must be persisted 
in for at least four weeks, and commonly for some months. 

Kopp suggested, that owing to the similarity of the effects of 
this oil to those of iodine, its efficacy might be owing to its con- 
taining the latter ; and some chemical investigations, made by 
him in the year 1836, confirmed the suggestion.! The quantity 
is extremely small, but — Kopp supposes — like the steel in 
chalybeate waters, as the iodine is commingled naturally with the 
oil, it may exert a much greater effect than if it were added artifi- 
cially in the like quantity. This is the opinion, also, of Dr. J. 
H. Bennett ;% but Delcour§ and Panck|| think it very problema- 
tical. Experiments by L. Gmelin,1F show, that the genuine oil 
contains iodine, whilst the spurious does not. It has likewise 
been detected by Hausmann, Bley, Brandes, Springmuhl,** and 
W. Stein.tt HerbergerJJ found both iodine and bromine in it. 

As respects its administration in disease, it has been employed 
— especially in Germany — as a domestic remedy in 

1. Rheumatism, in which its reputation has been favourable. 

* Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, S. 352, and 2te Auflage. S.542. Stutt- 
gart, 1840 ; also, Klencke, cited in Brit, and For. Med. Rev., Oct. 1842, 
p. 443. 

f Hufeland und Osann's Journal, 1836 ; Annalen der Pharmacie, xxi. und 
xii. ; and Bulletin General de Therapeutique, No. xx. Oct. 30, 1837. 

X Treatise on the Oleum Jecoris Aselli, or Cod Liver Oil, &c. &c. Lon- 
don, 1841. 

§ Bulletin Medical Beige, .Tuin, 1841, p. 254. 

|| Zeitschrift fiir die gesammte Medicin, Juli, 1842, p. 282. 

^[ Bulletin General de Therapeutique, Mai, 1840. 

** Riecke, Op. cit. 2te Auflage, S. 541. Stuttgart, 1840. 

ft Journal fiir Praktische Chemie, B. xxi., and Journal de Pharmacie, 
Fevrier, 1841, p. 94. 

\X Pereira, Op. cit. p. 1866. 






OLEUM JECORIS ASELLI. 457 

In the year 1732, it was highly recommended in chronic 
rheumatism by Dr. J. Percival,* and in 1807 by Dr. Bards- 
ley^ who states, that it was in high repute in Lancashire. 
In the year 1835, Brefeld wrote a monograph on it, in which, 
resting upon numerous indigenous and foreign experiments, 
he maintained it to be a remedy of great and specific efficacy 
in every form of chronic and actual rheumatism ; and since 
then his testimony has been corroborated by that of Spiritus,± 
Moning,§ Schutte,|| Wesener,1F Osberghaus,** Giinther,tt Volk- 
mann,|J Kopp, Rust,§§ Moll,|||| and Panck. 

By many, its use has likewise been advised in gouty affec- 
tions ; but Brefeld esteems it ineffectual in actual gout; and 
Tauffliedffir affirms, that it is of no avail in gouty arthritis. 

2. Scrophula and Rickets. — In these diseases, it would seem 
to be more efficacious than in rheumatism. Brefeld, indeed, as- 
serts that he has found no remedy equal to it, in cases where the 
osseous tissue is permanently affected, — as in the different shades 
of rickets, arthrocace, spina ventosa, and caries scrophulosa :*** 
next to these, it has been extolled in affections of the chyliferous 
vessels and internal glands, especially when they present them- 
selves under the chronic form of atrophy. In affections of the 
external glands, its efficacy was less striking and rapid ; Tauf- 
fiied, indeed, states, that it is of no avail in the swellings of any 
lymphatic glands excepting those of the abdominal cavity. Its 
action is almost null in scrophulous affections of the skin, oph- 
thalmia, discharges from the ear, &c, unless when applied ex- 
ternally, in which cases, as well as in external glandular sivell- 
ings of a scrophulous character, it was especially useful. The 
slighter forms of scrophulous eruptions disappeared, without any 
unpleasant sequela?, by simply smearing them with the oil ; the 
more obstinate forms, by the simultaneous use of appropriate 
internal agents, of which Brefeld prefers aethiops antimonialis 
to all others. Scrophulous inflammation of the eyes disap- 
peared frequently and rapidly by simply smearing the eyelids 
with the oil.ttt 

* Lond. Med. Journ. iii. 393. 

f Reports from Hospital Practice, p. 18, Lond. 1807. 

X Rust, Magazin, Band. xvi. 566. 

§ Ibid. 

| Horn's Archiv. 1824 (July and August). 

If 1 1 upland's Journal, 1824, Heft. v. (May.) 

•+ Ibid. 1825. Heft. iii. (September.) 

ft Ibid. 1824. Heft. ii. (Amnisr.) 

XX Ibid - 

§§ Rust's Magazin. xx. 563. 

fill Richter's Specielle Therapie, x.468. Berlin, 1828. 
flT Gazette Medicale, Nov. 9, 1839. 

*♦* Sourzac, Journ. de Med. etCbir. Prat. Mars, 1842, p. 110. 
tft Piffard, Bullet. Gcncral.de Therap. Mai, 1840. 
39 



458 OLEUM JECORIS ASELLI. 

Kopp extols it in scrophula and rickets, both when internally 
and externally exhibited ; and in porrigo, its external application 
was found by him to be highly serviceable. 

Numerous trials with the remedy by other physicians — as by 
Schenck, Scbutte, Von dem Busch, Gumpert, Fehr, Rosch, 
Schimdt,Knodvon Helmenstreit,Heineken,Miinzenthaler, Beck- 
haus, Spitta, Giinther, Roy, Gouzee,* Taufflied,t Jungken,J 
and others, confirm its great efficacy in scrophulous and rachitic 
affections.§ Schenck,|| indeed, esteems it as certain a remedy in 
scrophula and rickets as cinchona is in intermittent fever. 

Both Kopp and Brefeld recommend it highly in strumous pul- 
monalis of strumous origin, occurring especially in youth, and 
RayelT speaks in the highest terms of its efficacy in chronic in- 
flammation of the lungs and stomach. 

The efficacy, of the oil in scrophula suggested its administra- 
tion in cases of — 

3. Tubercles ; — and, accordingly, it was prescribed by Hankel, 
whose experiments led him to advise a further trial of it. Riecke** 
refers to a case of the kind confirming Hankel's observations, 
which occurred to Dr. Pagenstecher, of Elberfeld ; and Richter, 
of Wiesbaden, Professor Alexander, of Utrecht, and Haser, of 
Jeua,tt seem to have experienced equally satisfactory results. 
M. Tauffliedjjj: however, considers its action to be doubtful or 
null in scrophulous phthisis, when at all advanced. 

Carron du Villards§§ extols the codliver oil in opacities of the 
cornea, whether resulting from slight ulceration, or from inter- 
lamellar effusion. It is only applicable after the inflammation 
has disappeared. A drop or two of the oil is then placed on the 
cornea with a camel's hair pencil. Sometimes, even the white 
oil is too stimulating : it is then necessary to dilute it with oil of 
sweet almonds : in other cases, the white oil is not sufficiently 
stimulating ; when the brown must be used. 

4. Chronic cutaneous diseases. — In these affections, codliver 
oil has been given with advantage by Richter ; and it is suggested, 
that the greater success obtained by him than by Brefeld may 
have been owing to his having administered the remedy in much 

* Bulletin Medical Beige, Janvier, 1838, p. 6. 

f Gazette Medicale de Paris, Aout 12, 1837; and Nov. 9, 1839. 

X Lond. Med. Gazette, April 20th, 1839, p. 126. 

§ Riecke, Op. cit. S. 356, und 2te Auflage, S. 542. Stuttgart, 1840. See 
also, Taufflied, in Gaz. Medical de Paris, Nov. 1839. 

|| Hufeland's Journal der pructisch. Heilkunde, Mars, 1838. 

If Annales de la Societe des .Sciences, Nat. de Bruges, Encyclographie des 
Sciences Medicales, Mars, 1840, p. 100 ; and Sept. 1840, p. 10. 

** Op. cit. S. 356. 

t| Hufeland's Journal. B. Ixxxvi. 1838. 

tt Gazette Medicale, Nov. 9, 1839. 

§§ Bulletin General de Therapeutique, Oct. 30, 1835. 



OLEUM JECORIS ASELLI. 459 

larger doses. Richter's trials were numerous, and were made 
through a period of three years ; they are, therefore, highly de- 
serving of attention. He says; — that the impure, yellowish- 
brown, and odorous oil should be selected, as it is the most active ; 
— that at least six, and never more than ten spoonfuls should be 
administered daily to adults ; — that it must be continued for a long 
time, as the first traces of a favourable impression are generally 
somewhat late in presenting themselves, — commonly four weeks, 
and, in very obstinate cases, later ; — so that usually from six to 
twelve weeks are required for a cure ; and, lastly, that the diet 
must be regulated, and every thing difficult of digestion, flatulent, 
fatty, strongly salted, or acid, be carefully avoided. In this man- 
ner, he treats tetter, inveterate itch, and tendency to the forma- 
tion of boils. 

Kopp's experiments agree with those of Richter, as to the 
internal use of the oil in tetter ; he esteems it to act by "improv- 
ing the humours." He found it, also, of use, in cases of dry 
tetter, when rubbed on the part. In some troublesome affec- 
tions of the skin, especially of the hands, conjoining the charac- 
ters of impetigo, with erysipelatous redness and swelling, and 
inducing the most severe suffering, Dr. Marshall Hall* speedily 
succeeded in restoring the textures to a healthy condition by the 
external use of the codliver oil, after all other remedies had been 
tried fruitlessly. For rhagades and chaps, he says, it is a pre- 
ventive, and a speedy cure ; and it is productive of great bene- 
fit in eczema, and other diseases inducing excoriation and 
fissures of the skin. 

5. In cases of tumours of the mammse in young females, 
Kopp found the oil useful, when administered for some time, 
conjoined with the application of leeches to the affected part. 

6. In the Charite, at Berlin, the oil was given with advantage 
in coxarthrocace, in doses of four ounces every morning; — the 
mouth being rinsed afterwards with peppermint tea, and a cup- 
ful of this tea, or of coffee, being drunk afterwards. 

7. Kopp also affirms, that he cured a case of chorea by it, 
which had supervened on an attack of gout. 



METHOD OF ADMINISTERING. 

The dose of the codliver oil for an adult is from half a spoon- 
ful to three spoonfuls, two or three times a day. To children, it 
is given by tea-spoonfuls. Its unpleasant taste can scarcely be 
corrected by admixture with other agents ; for which reason, 
many prefer to give it in the pure state, taking afterwards some 

* Lond. Med. Gazette, Sept. 1832. 



460 OLEUM JECORIS ASELLI. 

peppermint lozenges. It is also recommended to be given united 
with coffee, or with lemon juice, or in the form of emulsion. 
Kopp prescribes it in the pure state, advising that the mouth 
should be rinsed with water, and that some dry bread should be 
eaten after it. 



Mistura olei jccoris aselli. 
Mixture of codliver oil. 

R. 01. jecor. asell. f.§j. 
Liq. potass, carb. f-3'j- 
01. calami, gtt. iij. 
Syrup, cort. aurant. f.gi. M. 

Dose. — One or two tea-spoonfuls, morning and evening, in 
cases of rickets. Fehr. 



R. 01. jecor. aselli, 
Syrup, cort. aurant. 
Aquse anisi, aa. f.^j. 
01. calam. aromat. gtt. iij. M. 

Dose. — A spoonful, morning, noon, and night ; in gouty 
swellings, rickets, &c. 

Rbsch. 



Emulsio olei jec oris aselli. 
Emulsion of codliver oil. 

R. 01, jeoor. asell. alb. 

Vin. Hungaric. (vel Malag.) aa. f.^iv. 

Acac. 3j. 
Fiat emulsio, cui adde 

Syrup, cort. aurant. f.gj. 

Elaeosacchar. menth. pip. 3'j-* 

Dose. — Two table-spoonfuls, two or three times a day ; shak- 
ing the mixture. Brefeld. 

* The elacosaccharum or oleosaccharum menthse piperitse is officinal in the 
Pharmacopoeias of Austria, Denmark, Hanover, Oldenburg, Prussia, &c. It 
is made by triturating eight drops of the essential oil of peppermint with an 
ounce of sugar. 



OLEUM SINAPIS. 



461 



Syrupus olei j ec oris aselli. 
Syrup of codliver oil. 

R. 01. jecor. aselli. f.^viij. 
Acac. pulv. §v. 
Aqua, f.^xij. 
Syrup, commun. f.^iv. 
Sacchar.5xxiv. 
Make an emulsion of the four first ingredients; dissolve the sugar at a moder- 
ate heat ; clarify, and add 

Aq. flor. aurant. f.^ij. 

Duclou.* 



linimentum olei jecoris aselli 

Liniment of codliver oil. 

R. 01. jecor. aselli, f.§ss. 
Plumbi acetat. Jij. 
Vitell. ovor. (seu adipis), 3iij- M. 

For external use in cases of ulcers, fstulse, &c. 



Brefeld. 



CVIII. OLEUM SINA'PIS. 

Svnonymes. Oleum jEthereura seu Volatile Seminum Sinapis, Oil of Mus- 
tard Seed. 
French. Hnile Volatile de Moutard. 
German. ^Etherisches Senfbl. 

This preparation lias been recently recommended to the notice 
of practitioners in Germany, by Dr. Meyer, of Minden, especially ; 
at whose suggestion, numerous experiments were made withit at 
the Charite, in Berlin, the favourable results of which have been 
published by Dr. Wulll'.t 

* Journal de Pharmacie, Sept. 1837. 
-J- Schmidt's Jatirbucher, 1837. 
39* 



462 OLEUM SINAPIS. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 



M. Faure, in France, and M. Hesse, in Germany, found that if 
bruised mustard seed be placed in a still with cold water, much 
more essential oil is obtained than if hot water or steam had been 
at once employed. M. Hesse, indeed, advises, that the seed should 
be macerated with cold water for several hours before the distil- 
lation is commenced. It would seem, too, that acids, alcohol, 
&c, exercise the same influence in preventing the separation of 
the oil. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

Volatile oil of mustard is of a yellowish-white colour. It ex- 
hales so strong a smell of mustard, that the attempt to test its 
odour instantaneously excites a violent pungent sensation in the 
nose, and tears in the eyes. Its acridity is so great, that its ap- 
plication to the sound skin immediately occasions a sense of burn- 
ing, and intense redness and vesication on the parts with which 
it comes in contact. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

Mustard seed oil maybe applied either externally or internally. 
For the first object, Dr. Meyer advises a solution in alcohol 
(twenty-four drops to the ounce), or in oil of almonds (five or six 
drops to the dram). In Berlin, the former of these is used. Even 
this solution exhales so strongly the characteristic odour of mus- 
tard, that simply smelling it induces a sense of pungency in the 
nose, as well as tears in the eyes. Owing to the great volatility 
of this oil, its properties and efficacy are soon lost ; and the strength 
of the spirituous solution becomes less and less, when the fluid is 
preserved for a long time in vessels that are not accurately closed, 
or are frequently opened for the administration of the remedy 
and afterwards not carefully attended to. It is therefore advisa- 
ble in practice, that only small quantities should be prescribed at 
a time, and that these should be kept in well-closed vials, and in 
a cool place. 

The mode of external administration may be one of two — ac- 
cording to the sensibility of the skin, and the effect it may be de- 
sirable to induce. It may consist either in rubbing the liquid on 
a part of the surface, or in applying strips of linen wetted with 
it. The first method is advisable where the skin is delicate — 
as in the case of women and children, and in those whose healthy 



OLEUM SINAPIS. 463 

sensibility has not been diminished — as by paralytic affections. 
The fluid, when rubbed on the surface, very quickly evaporates, 
in the course of a few minutes, and excites a vivid sensation of 
burning, with bright redness of the surface, which disappears in 
the course of a few hours at the farthest. 

The augmented sensibility, produced by friction with the solu- 
tion of the oil, continues generally for a longer period ; and, con- 
sequently, if a fresh application be needed at a short interval — 
say in from four to six hours — it must be made on the neigh- 
bouring parts, avoiding those first implicated. It is sufficient to 
use the remedy in this manner two or three times a day. 

The application of the oil by means of strips of linen is adapted 
for skins such as those of men, which are thicker, and less sensi- 
ble, as well as for morbid cases in which the healthy sensibility 
has been depressed. The size and shape of the strips must be 
determined by circumstances. The linen, dipped in the oil, is 
placed upon the prescribed portion of the skin, and suffered to 
dry, which generally happens in about eight minutes. Burning 
pain immediately succeeds, and is often so insupportable, that 
the patients object to wait until the linen is dry, and it has, there- 
fore, to be removed earlier. Beside the more violent pain, pro- 
duced by this mode of applying the oil, the redness of the skin 
is much greater, and in many cases vesication succeeds. 

If the application be made twice a day, morning and evening, 
this is sufficient for the treatment of chronic diseases ; but fric- 
tion cannot be made on the same part of the surface on the same 
day, on account of the severe pain and vesication, which would 
be induced. 

This method of applying the oil is considered to be especially 
proper in the case of the trunk and the extremities; whilst the 
first method is generally to be preferred, where it is desirable to 
use it upon the face, behind the ears, or on the neck. 

The Oleum sinapis is indicated, wherever a counter-irritant 
or local excitement is demanded. Riecke* advises it in chronic 
cases unaccompanied by fever, as well as in light febrile affec- 
tions, where a gentle excitant may be needed ; and in such 
fevers as are conjoined with a torpid state of the system, and 
which require the use of excitants. He regards its powerfully 
excitant action as constituting it a most useful article in our lists 
of antagonising or derivative, as well as of excitant agents. In 
the first relation, Wolff employed it with advantage both in sub- 
injlammutory diseases, and in nervous affections not of an in- 
flammatory character — as in subacute rheumatismoi the joints, 
aponeuroses and muscles, and in chronic rheumatism of those 

* Die neuern Arzueimittel, S. 311; unci 2te Auflnge, S. 519. Stuttgart, 
1840. 



464 OLEUM TIGLII. 

parts, where blisters would be serviceable ; and for which it 
may be substituted with advantage, in consequence of its not 
being attended with the inconveniences occasionally produced 
by the latter on the urinary organs. He employed it, likewise, 
in rheumatic neuralgia, — otalgia, odontalgia, prosopalgia, and 
ischias, — bloodletting being prescribed or not, according to 
circumstances ; and, also, as a palliative in chronic neuralgia, 
colic of the hysterical kind, and gastrodynia. 

As an excitant to arouse the vital activity in debilitated parts, 
Wolff used the solution of the oil in paralysis, in the sequelae of 
protracted rheumatism, and in neuralgia, which was probably 
the result of exudation into the neurilema, &c. He gave it, also, 
internally several times with good effect, in disorder of the sto- 
mach, accompanied by too great a secretion of mucus (Ver- 
schleimung des Ma gens), and producing complete loss of appe- 
tite. Two drops were formed into a mixture of six ounces, by 
the aid of gum arabic and sugar; and of this a table-spoonful 
was given every two hours. 

In cases of atonic dropsy, it has been conceived, advantage 
might, in many cases, be derived from the internal use of this 
oil ; as in the majority of those to whom it was given inter- 
nally, the urinary secretion was largely augmented by it.* 
Kuhn,t indeed, exhibited it in a case of atonic dropsy as a sequel 
of intermittent fever with signal benefit. 

The Oleum Sinapis has been received into the Hamburg 
Pharmacopoeia. 



CIX. O'LEUM TIGLII. 

Synonymes. Oleum Crotonis, Croton Oil. 
French, Huile de Pignon d'Inde. 
German. Krotonol, Croionbl. 

The seeds of Croton Tiglium, or purging croton — a tree in- 
digenous in the Molucca Isles, Ceylon, Java, &c, and which be- 
longs in the Sexual System to Moncecia Monadelphia, and to 
the Natural Family Euphorbiacege — are characterised by their 
acrid drastic properties — which, indeed, belong to the whole 
family. These seeds were carried by the Dutch to Europe, two 

* Riecke, Op. cit. S. 3 13, and 2te Auflagre, S. 520, Stuttgart, 1840. 
+ Medicinische Zeitung, No. 38. Sep. 21, 1836, S. 191. 



OLEUM TIGLII. . 465 

centuries ago, and were admitted into the old Pharmacopoeias 
under the names Grana Tiglii,G. Tilii, G. Moluccas, &c, being 
prescribed as a drastic cathartic, but owing to their too violent 
operation, which frequently induced unpleasant results, they 
fell subsequently into entire disuse. The oil of croton was also 
introduced into Europe about the same period, and was occa- 
sionally used internally. It had, however, sunk into total 
neglect, when attention was recalled to it by Dr. Conwell, a 
physician in the English East India Company's service at 
Madras, by whom its employment was reintroduced into Europe; 
and, in a short time, it acquired so much repute as an active 
cathartic, that it was received into various Pharmacopoeias.* 

Croton oil is a thickish fluid, of a honey-yellow colour, has a 
disagreeable smell, and a very acrid burning taste, so that it ex- 
cites inflammation of the tongue and fauces. It is a fixed oil, 
having a very acrid matter associated with it, which appears to 
possess acid qualities — crotonic acid. In ether and turpentine it 
is wholly soluble ; in alcohol, partially so. 

It is imported chiefly from Madras, but partly from Bombay, 
and is prepared like castor oil, being strained, however, instead 
of being boiled. Croton oil is likewise expressed in England. t 
About 50per cent, may be obtained in this way ; and 10 per cent. 
more may be removed by the solvent action of sulphuric ether, 
which is afterwards expelled by a gentle heat.J 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Croton oil holds a distinguished place amongst cathartics, inas- 
much as it can be given in small doses ; and in cases of great 
torpor of the intestines, its action is very certain. Even a drop 
commonly produces eight or ten fluid evacuations; but, at times, 
in unusual torpor of the canal, as many as four or five drops, and 
even more, have been given in the course of ten or twelve hours. 
Like most of the drastic cathartics, it occasions tormina, but these 
are less distressing than the burning sensation which it commonly 
excites in the pharynx, and which is least felt when the oil is 
given in the form of pill or lozenge. Not unfrequently, also, it 
causes nausea, often ending in vomiting in delicate persons, or 
where the dose has been large, but without interfering materially 
with the cathartic effect. At times, it is formed into a soap with 
caustic soda — Sapo olei iiglii — which is given in doses of from 

* Recherches sur les propriety mcdicinales et l'emploi de l'huile du Croton 
Tigliom, <kc. Paris, 1824. 

\ Pereira, Elements of Mat- Med. and Therap. ii. 1116, Lond. 1842; or 
Amer. edit, iiy Dr. Carson, Philad. 1843. 

% ChristHon, Dispensatory, Ediub. 1842. 



466 OLEUM TIGLII. 

one to three grains. This soap is said to be less excitant, and to 
occasion less pain than the pure oil, and it has the advantage, 
that the dose can be better apportioned. 

As with other cathartics, the incautious employment of croton 
oil may occasion inflammation of the intestinal canal, and there- 
fore, it need scarcely be said, its use during inflammation of the 
canal is contraindicated. It does not appear to affect any other 
secretory organs than those of the bowels, although some physi- 
cians affirm, that they have remarked an increase of the urine 
after its use. 

Occasionally, when rubbed, in the quantity of four or five 
drops, around the umbilicus, it would seem to have acted as a 
cathartic, and even its odour has been known to produce the 
same effect. 

Like other active cathartics, it has been employed as an anthel- 
mintic, especially in cases of lape-ivorm, by Poccinotti, and others, 
and with success.* 

Croton oil has been used externally as a revellent or counter- 
irritant — at times to induce a cathartic effect ; but in this respect 
it is uncertain.! Rubbed on the surface in small quantity, it 
induces inflammation of the skin, which gradually disappears of 
itself. When the friction is longer continued, pustules are caused, 
which, when they are numerous, run together or are confluent, 
and around the spot where the confluent eruption is seated, 
papulae or pimples appear over a wider extent, which are trans- 
formed into pustules, and are surrounded by a red base or areola. 
When the pustules are discrete, they dry up more rapidly than 
when they run together ; and in the latter case they commonly 
form scabs. Friction readily excites pustulation on the head, face, 
neck, chest, and on those parts of the extremities where the skin 
is thin. Where it is thicker, the effect is of course induced with 
more difficulty. Commonly, the eruption is perceptible in twelve 
hours after the first friction, but at times not till a later period ; 
very rarely is the second friction ineffectual. In the course of 
from three to six days, the eruption again disappears. 

The pain usually commences in about an hour after the rub- 
bing, being at first nothing more than a slight itching and burn- 
ing, which gradually, but markedly, augments ; yet the eruption 
is never so painful as that caused by the ointment of tartarised 
antimony, or by the plaster of the same agent, with which it is 
capable of fulfilling the same indications. 

These frictions with croton oil are adapted for all cases in 



* Richter's Specielle Therapie, B. x. S. 248. Berlin, 1828. 
f See a case of Ileus cured in this manner, by Dr. Susewind, in Casper's 
Wochenschrift fur die gesammte Heilkunde, Jun. 24, 1837, S. 404. 



OLEUM TIGLII. 467 

which local counter-irrritation is required. It is important, how- 
ever, to bear in mind, that it may in this manner act on the 
bowels, and hence, that it may not be adapted for intestinal 
disorders, in which it is not desirable to produce such an effect. 
Frictions with it have been recommended of late by many 
physicians — as by Andral,* Elliotson, Hutchinson,! Short, 
Landsberg, Romberg, and others, in the following affections : — 
In chronic inflammations, and such as have a tendency to 
exsudation ; in chronic rheumatic and gouty diseases, in apho- 
niaX and chronic hoarseness,^ phthisical affections, especially in 
incipient phthisis ; and in the neuroses — as spasmodic asthma, 
hooping-cough, paralysis,\\ &c. GuntherIF advises them as 
almost specific in rheumatic odontalgia and in otalgia. 

In neuralgia faciei, the cause of which is considered by Sir 
Charles Bell** to be seated primarily in the intestinal canal, and 
remotely in the fifth pair of nerves, croton oil has been recom- 
mended as a superior purgative, and this, as well as other forms 
of neuralgia,^ would seem to have been removed by it, doubt- 
less, by the revulsion it excites upon the intestinal nerves. But 
it need scarcely be said, that it possesses no specific virtue, as 
has been imagined by some. In the only case of genuine tic in 
which Dr. Christison tried it, no benefit whatever was derived. 

Croton oil has likewise been used as a direct excitant. Cam- 
panel \\%% gives a case of paralysis of the upper eyelid, which 
was promptly relieved by the application of four drops to the 
affected lid, and the eyebrow. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Internally, the dose is from one-fourth, or one-half, a drop, to 
two drops, given every three or two hours, or more frequently, 
if necessary. The dose is rarely carried higher, except in des- 

* Gazette Medieale, Janv. 1832, and Archives Generates, Aoiit, 1833. 

f London Lancet, May, 1833, and Dr. Sauer, in Medicin. Zeitung, Aug. 10, 
1836, S. 158, and Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intel., Nov. 1, 1837, p. 286. 

| Romberg, in Wochensclirift fur die gesammte Heilkunde, 1835. 

\ Dr. Sauer, in Medic. Zeitung, Aug. 10, 1836, S. 158. 

|| Boileau (Paralysis of the Facial Nerve), Bulletin Medical du Midi. Avril, 
1839. 

^ Berliner Medicin. Central, Zeitung, Nov. 19, 1838. 

** Practical Kssnys, Edinb. 1841, p. 101. See, also, Dr. Allnat, on Tic 
Douloureux, Lond. 1811. 

ff J. Cochrane, Lond. and Edinb. Monthly Journ. of Med. Science, July, 
1841 ; Dr. J. A.'Kastoh, Lond. Lancet, Jan. 29, 1841 ; and Dr. Newbigging, 
Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. Jan. 1841; or Amer. Journ. Med. Science, 
Jan. 1841, p. 209. 

%\. Annali Universali di Medicina, July, 1835. 



46S OLEUM TIGLII. 

perate cases, and in mental affections, for which it is peculiarly 
appropr a e. 

It may be given either in the form of emulsion or of pill. 
Hahnemann* and Hufeland recommended it as a substitute for 
castor oil, which is expensive in Germany; advising, that a drop 
of croton oil should be added to an ounce of oil of poppies, and 
that the mixture should be called Oleum Ricini Officinale. This 
preparation is well adapted for emulsions. 

In apoplexy, or other comatose diseases, it may be given on a 
piece of sugar, which may be introduced into the throat, or be 
simply placed on the back of the tongue. When applied exter- 
nally, to excite an eruption, from four to six drops, or even more, 
may be rubbed in twice a day. For women and children, a 
single application may be sufficient ; but if the skin be thick and 
insensible, it will be well to rub it previously with flannel, or to 
apply first a rubefacient, especially when it is desirable to pro- 
duce the effect speedily. On the other hand, where the skin is 
excitable, the croton oil should be mixed with from one to four 
or five parts or more of olive oil, oil of turpentine, or soap lini- 
ments.t 

Pilulse olei tiglii. 

Pills of croton oil. 

R. Olei tiglii, gtt. iv. 

Mica? panis, q. s. nt fiant pilulse viij. 

Dose. — One, or two, or more. 

R. Olei tiglii, gtt. v. 

Saponis, 

Acaciae, aa. ^j. 
Misce et fiant pilulse xx. 

Dose. — One to three. Sundelin. 

R. Olei tiglii, gtt. ii. 

Micae panis 
vel 

Saponis, 9j. 
M. et divide in pilulas viij. 

Dose. — One to four. 

* Apotheker Lexicon, B. ii. Abth. 1. S. 203. 

f See the Author's Gen. Therap. and Mat. Med. ii. 265. Philad. 1843. 



OLEUM TIGLII. 469 

Pilnlse olei tiglii composite. 
Compound pills of croton oil. 

R. Olei tiglii, gtt. x. 

Ext. cclocynth. comp. ji. 

01. menthae piper, gtt. viij. M. 
et fiant pil. xviii. 

Two for a dose — to be repeated at short intervals, in cases 
of obstinate constipation. 



Haustus olei tiglii. 

Draught of croton oil. 

R. Tinct. ol. tiglii, f.Jss. 
Syrup. 

Mucil. acacise, aa. f.Jij. 
Aquae destill. f.gss. Fiat haustus. 

After swallowing a little milk, this draught must be taken 
very quickly, and be washed down with the same diluent. 

Nimmo. 

Emulsio olei tiglii. 
Emulsion of croton oil. 

R. Olei tiglii, gtt. iij. 

Olei amygdal. f.gss. 

Acac. Jij. 
Misce sensim terendo cum 

Syrup, flor. aurant. f.^j. 

Aq. anthemid. f.sjv. M. 

Dose. — A spoonful, every two hours, until it operates — 
shaking the vial. Phoebus.* 

R. Olei tiglii, gtt. i. — ij. 

Olei anthemid. gtt. ij. 
Terendo misce cum 

Mucilag. acacia?, 

Syrup, amygdal. ail. f.sjss. M. 

Dose. — A tea-spoonful, every two hours — shaking the vial. 

Locksliidt. 

* Handbuch der Arzneiverordnungslehre, Th. ii. Berlin, 1836. 
40 



470 OLEUM TIGLII. 

Mistura olei tiglii. 

Mixture or emulsion ofcroton oil. 

R. Olei tiglii, gtt. ii. 
Mucilag. acac. f^ij- 
Aquae, f.^j. M. 

Dose. — A fourth part, every two hours, until the desired effect 
is induced. 

Mistnra olei tiglii saponacea. 

Saponaceous mixture of croton oil. 

R. Olei tiglii, gtt. viij. 
Potassae, gr. vj. 
Aquae destillat. f.^lj. M. 

This is a substitute for the Sapo Olei Tiglii, which is trouble- 
some in the preparation. 

Dose. — Three to six drops.* 

R. 01. tiglii, gtt. ij. 
Sacchar. 3>j. 
Acaeise, 3ss. 
Tinct. card, f.^ss. 
Aquae destillat. f.Jx. M. 

Dose. — Two dessert-spoonfuls, to children ; to be repeated 
every three or four hours, if necessary. 

Trochisci olei tiglii. 
Lozenges of croton oil. 

R. Olei tiglii, gtt. ij. 

Sacchar. ^j. 

Mucilag. acaciae, q. s. ut fiant 
Trochisci, non torrendi, No. viij. 

Dose. — One every two hours, until the desired effect is in- 
duced. SeilerA 

* Ellis's Medical Formulary, 6th edit, by Dr. S. G. Morton, p. 36. Philad. 
1842. 

t Hufeland's Journal, B. lix. St. 4. S. 134 ; und Rust's Magazin, B. xviii. 
St. 2, S. 358. 



OLEUM TIGLII. 471 

Sapo olei tiglii. 
Soap of croton oil. 

Sapo crotonis. 

R. Olei tiglii, partes ij. 

Liquor, potassse, partem j. 

Triturate in the cold, and when the mixture has acquired the proper consist- 
ence, run it into moulds of pasteboard, and, in the course of a few days, 
remove it by slices. 

Dose. — Two or three grains in water, or in the form of pill. 

Caventou. 

Linimentnm olei tiglii. 

Liniment of croton oil. 

Lini?nentum crotonis. 

R. 01. tiglii, p. i. 

— olivs, p. v. M. 

To be rubbed on the skin, night and morning, until pustula- 
tion is induced. 

Ungnentum olei tiglii. 

Ointment of croton oil. 

R. Olei tiglii, rr\,x. — xxx. 
Adipis, 3ss. M. 

A little of this to be rubbed on the part so as to excite the 
peculiar eruption. 



472 



PAULLINIA. 



Emplastrum olei tiglii. 
Plaster of croton oil. 

Sparadrap de crolnn. 

M. Bouchardat melts over a very gentle fire, 4 parts of diachy- 
lon plaster ; and when it is in a semifluid state, he mixes with 
it 1 part of croton oil. This he spreads upon linen, so as to 
form an adhesive and irritating plaster. 

M. Caventou prefers the following form, as he considers the 
degree of heat employed in the process of M. Bouchardat may 
interfere with the powers of the croton oil. 

R. Adipis, p. iiss. 

Cerse, p. ss. 
01. tiglii, p. i. 

The wax and lard must be melted, and when nearly cold, the 
oil be incorporated.* 

Popet recommends a tinctura granorum tiglii, or a tinc- 
ture of the seeds, to be made of two ounces of the seeds from 
which the rinds have been carefully removed, to one ounce 
of alcohol. This is allowed to digest for six days, and is then 
filtered. The smallest dose for an adult is twenty drops. This 
preparation, he says, has the advantage of excluding the more 
acrid drastic matter contained in the epidermis and husk, whilst 
the kernel affords cathartic material enough to act powerfully 
and certainly. 



CX. PAULLIN'IA. 

Paullinia is an extract from a plant of the same name, a native 
of Brazil. It is prepared by the Indians, and seems to possess 
considerable, excitant powers. M. Gavrelle presented a specimen 
of it to the Sociele de Medecine, of Paris, as well as a new alkali, 
which had been separated from it by two chemists of Paris. 
Both the extract and the alkali are very bitter, and somewhat 
resemble Cafein. M. Gavrelle states, that Paullinia is obtained 
from the Paullinia sorbilis ; Family, Sapindaceae. M. de Chas- 

* Bulletin General de Therapeutique, Mars, 1842, and Journ. de Pharm. 
Avril, 1842, p. 453. 
f Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. xiii. p. i. 



PAULLINIA. 473 



tetus found it to be composed of gum, starch, a resinous matter 
of a reddish-brown colour, a fat oil, tannic acid, and a crystalli- 
zable substance, possessing the chemical properties of cafein. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

In Brazil, and the neighbouring countries, it is given in the 
form of Tisane — the powder being mixed with cocoa — in diar- 
rhoea and dysentery. As a tonic, M. Gavrelle has employed it 
successfully in chlorosis, tedious convalescence, paralysis, the 
colliquative diarrhoea of phthisis, and hemicrania. 

According to Von Martius, an extract is prepared in Bra- 
zil from Paullinia sorbilis, which is known there under the 
name of Guarand, and is administered in similar pathological 
cases.* 

MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The hydro-alcoholic extract op paullinia is considered 
to represent the plant most accurately in its chemical properties. 
Of this, M. Gavrelle has given formulae for Lozenges, Syrup, 
Pills, Powder, Tincture, and Ointments 

Trochisci paulliniBB. 

Lozenges of paullinia. 

R. Extract. Jiydro-alcoholic. paulliniae, 3vss. 
Sacchar. (vanilla odorizat.) Jfoiss. 

Make into lozenges, each containing 10 grains. 

Syrupus paullinise. 

Syrup of paullinia. 

I£. Extract, hydro-alcohol, paullin. Jiiss. 
Syrup. Oij. 

Haifa fluid ounce may be given in the 24 hours. 

* See art. Guarand, in Diet. Univers. de Mat. M£d. par Mcrat et De Lens, 
torn, ii., p, 305. liruxelles, 1838 ; Journal de Pharmacia, and Amer. Journ. of 
Pharmacy, Jan. 1841. p. 310; M. Dechastetus, Journ. de Pharm. Aout, 1840; 
J. J. Virey, Ibid., and Von Schleehtendal. Encyclopid. Worterb. der Medicin. 
Wissenschaft. xxvi. 433. Berlin, 1841. 

f Journal de Chimie MeM., and Kncyclographie des Sciences Mcdicales, 
Juillet, 1840, p. 230. See, also, American Journal of Pharmacy, Oct. 1840, 
p. 208. 

40* 



474 PHLORIDZINA. 

PilulflE paullinirc. 
Pills of paullinia. 

R. Extract, hydro-alcohol, paullin. q. s. 
To be made into pills, each containing a grain and a half. 

Pulveres paullinise. 

Powders of paullinia. 



For a dose. 



R. Paullin. in pulv. %i. 

Sacchar. aromatizat. gss. M. 

Tiuctura paullinise . 

Tincture of paullinia. 

R. Ext. hydro-alcohol, paullin. §i. 
Alcohol. (22°) Oi. M. 

IJnguentum paullinia. 

Ointment of paullinia. 

R. Ext. hydro-alcohol, paullin. 3U- 
Adipis. jfij. M. 



CXI. PHLORIDZINA.* 

Synonymes. Phloridzinurn, Phloiorrhizinum, Phloiidzia, Phloridzine, Phlo- 
rizin, Phloridzin. 
German. Phloridzin, Phloiorrhizin. 

This bitter principle exists in the bark of both the trunk and 
the root of the apple, pear, cherry, and plum tree. 

* From y\tot, inner bark, and §/£a, root. 



PHLORIDZINA. 475 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 



The following plan is recommended by M. de Koninck, its 
discoverer (1834 or 1835). — The fresh bark of the root of the 
apple tree is to be boiled for two hours with sufficient water 
to cover it : the decoction is to be decanted, and a second one 
made by the addition of more water. On uniting the two decoc- 
tions, and permitting them to stand for twenty-four hours, a de- 
position of phloridzin, in granular crystals, takes place. These 
are to be treated with distilled ivater and animal charcoal to 
purify them. An additional quantity is obtained by evaporating 
the mother waters to one-fifth. At this degree of concentration, 
all the phloridzin is deposited. This method affords about one 
part in three hundred. Another plan yields five per cent. It 
consists in digesting the fresh root in weak alcohol, at a tempera- 
ture of 120°, for about eight or ten hours, distilling off the greater 
part of the alcohol, and crystallising the residue.* 

Phloridzin crystallises in silky spicula of a dead-white colour 
when in masses, or in long slender prisms or tables when crys- 
tallised with care. One thousand parts of water, at a tempera- 
ture from 32° to 71°, only dissolve about one part ; but at from 
71° to 212°, water dissolves it in all proportions. It is also very 
soluble in pure alcohol at ordinary temperatures, although but 
slightly so in ether, even when boiling. It has no action on test 
papers. S. g. 1.429.t 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

M. de Koninck found, that from ten to fourteen grains given 
for a dose, with a dram of sugar, produced the most marked ef- 
fect in intermittent fever, where sulphate of quinia had failed. 
In four cases, reported by Dr. Van Mons^of Bruxelles, the dis- 
ease was arrested by the first sixteen grains : other cases required 
sixteen grains, a few hours before the first paroxysm; twelve 
grains before the second ; six before the third ; and four before 
the fourth. Five successful cases are likewise given by M. Ma- 
thysen,§ elcve interne at the Hospital St. Pierre, Bruxelles ; and 



* Journal do Plmrmacie, xxii. 78, and Arner. Journ. of Pharmae. vol. ii. new 
series, p.. 240. See, also, M. Boullier, in Gazelle Medieale de Paris, 17 Juin, 
1837, and M. Marchand, Journ. deChim. Med. Avril, 1841. 

f For Borne elaborate chemical researches on l'liloiidzine, M. J. S. Stass 
Annates de Chimie et de Physique, Deo. 1838. 

X Bulletin Medical Bulge,. Mai, 183G. 

§ Ibid. Oct. 1835. 



476 PIPERINA. 

M. Lebaudy* affirms, that its efficacy is so decided, that we 
cannot hesitate to class it with the most powerful febrifuges; and 
that it has this advantage over quinia, that it never induces gas- 
tralgia ; yet M. Leonhardt is satisfied from his various trials, that 
phloridzin does not possess any febrifuge virtue ! 



METHOD OF PRESCRIBING. 

It may be given in the form of pill or of powder, like the sul- 
phate of quinia. It was administered at the hospital at Brux- 
elles, in one case, in the way of lavement ; — twenty-four grains 
being given in three lavements. The paroxysm returned, but 
was less violent. In two days afterwards, the same quantity 
was administered in the same manner, and the fever did not 
recur. 



CXII. PIPERI'NA. 

Synonymes. Piperinum, Piperium, Piperine, Piperin. 
German. Piperin, PfefTerstorT. 

This substance was discovered by M. Oerstiidt, in the year 
1S19, in black pepper, Piper nigrum. \ It is found, also, in 
Piper longum, and it has been presumed to be the same, or an 
analogous principle with the cubebin of Piper cubeba. It has 
been affirmed, that it exists only in black, and not in white 
pepper ; but this is an error. Dr. Christison§ invariably obtained 
it from the latter in larger quantity than from the former, and 
more easily, because it is combined with less resin. M. Oer- 
stiidt at first regarded it as a vegetable alkali, but M. Pelletier 
subsequently analysed it, and proved it not to be such, but to 
bear a considerable analogy to resins, and not to be of a peculiar 
nature. || 

Piperin has not been much used, except in Italy. 

* Journal des Connaiss. Med. Chirurg. cited in Braithwaite's Retrospect of 
Medicine and Surgery No. 5, p. 1*29, Lond. 1842, where it is termed erro- 
neously Phloridrine ; and whence it is copied into the Amer. Journ. of the 
Medical Sciences, and into the American Journal of Pharmacy, for Jan. 1843, 
under the name Ptihridinn. 

t Encyclojraphie des Sciences Medicales, Mai, 1838. 

| Journal de Physique, No. 2. 18-20, and Gazette de Sante, Mai 25, 1820. 

§ Dispensatory, p. 698. Edinb. 1842. 

|| Examen chimique du Poivre, par J. Pelletier. 8vo. Paris. 



477 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Let two pounds of black pepper, bruised, be digested, at a gen- 
tle heat, in three pounds of alcohol, at 36° (.837). This mixture 
must afterwards be raised to ebullition, then suffered to remain 
at rest, and grow cold ; when it must be decanted, and the ope- 
ration be repeated with fresh alcohol. The two solutions must 
then be mixed together, and two pounds of distilled water and 
three ounces of muriatic acid be added. The liquor becomes 
turbid, and a precipitate, of a deep gray colour, is thrown down, 
which is composed, in a great measure, of fatty matter. The 
deposite being separated, crystals may be collected on the filter 
and sides of the vessel. These are piperin. On adding water 
until the liquid is no longer rendered turbid, a fresh quantity is 
obtained. 

The above process, which is that of Meli, is the same as one 
described by M. Pelletier. He has likewise procured it by the 
following method : — After having exhausted pepper by alcohol, 
and evaporated the alcoholic tinctures, a fatty or resinous matter 
is obtained : this must be subjected to the action oi boiling ivater, 
which must be added again and again, until it passes off colour- 
less. By dissolving this fatty matter — thus purified by washing 
— in alcohol, by the aid of heat, and leaving the solution to itself 
for some days, a multitude of crystals are obtained, which may 
be purified by solution in alcohol and ether, and by repeated crys- 
tallisation. The alcoholic mother waters, left to themselves, will 
furnish fresh crystals. This crystalline matter is piperin. 

Piperin presents itself in the form of four-sided prisms, two of 
which — parallel to each other — are evidently broader than the 
others. In the pure state, it is of a white colour, and translucent : 
it is frequently, however, coloured yellow by portions of resin 
being combined with it. It has been affirmed, that when Piperin 
is quite pure it is bland ;* but Dr. Christisonf states, that the very 
whitest crystals he was able to obtain, were as acrid as those 
which are brownish, and they emitted an intensely irritating 
vapour when thrown on a heated iron plate. It is inodorous, 
and of a feeble taste of pepper ; fuses readily by heat ; is not 
volatile, and is scarcely soluble in cold water, but somewhat 
more so in hot. In respect to its solubility in alcohol, testimony 
is discordant. According to Magendie, it dissolves very readily 
therein ; according to C. G. Gmelin, it is soluble only in small 

* Dispensatory of the United States of America, 4th edit. p. 512. Philad. 
1839. 

t Op. cit. p. 097. 



478 



PIPERITA. 



quantity in cold, but in tolerable proportion in hot alcohol, as 
well as in ether and in the volatile oils. The solutions taste 
acrid and peppery, and do not react on vegetable colours ; — 
which shows that it is not an alkaloid, as the discoverer conceived. 
With acids, it forms no intimate chemical combinations ; acetic 
acid, indeed, dissolves it in considerable quantity ; it is, however, 
in great part, precipitated by water, and by evaporation the whole 
of the acid escapes. It is related to the resins. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Piperin has been exhibited chiefly by the Italian physicians for 
the cure of intermittent fever. Its employment \vas,doubtless, 
suggested by the use of pepper-corns as a popular remedy in that 
disease. According to Riecke,* the antiperiodic virtue of pepper 
is exhibited upon the healthy economy, — a few pepper-corns 
taken before the expected appearance of the menses, arresting 
them for several days. Of this, he himself has had no experi- 
ence ; but he affirms, that the females, in a district of southern 
Germany, have great confidence in their virtues. 

Meli,t who treated many cases of intermittent with piperin, 
considers it as the best of all febrifuges, quinia not excepted. 
He forms twenty grains into ten pills, and gives these at inter- 
vals during the apyrexia. He ascribes the efficacy of the oleum 
acre piperis in the same complaint to the piperin it contains. 

The febrifuge virtue of piperin has been confirmed by many 
other Italian physicians ; by Brandolini, Bertini, Gordini, To- 
relli, and others. According to Brandolini, from forty to fifty 
grains are generally required to effect a cure. Bertini gave it 
in three doses during the apyrexia, to the extent of a scruple, 
made into pills with a bitter extract : after two or three doses, 
the fever was generally arrested. Gordini affirms, that relapses 
occurred less frequently after the use of piperin than after that 
of the sulphate of quinia. On the other hand, in the hospital at 
Turin, Christin was disappointed in it, and such seems to have 
been the result of the trials made by Chiappa.J In the year 
1S23, he administered it in ten or twelve cases, but was unable 
to detect any great antiperiodic property ; not more than a fourth 
part of the sick experienced benefit, whilst, on the others, cin- 



* Die neuern Arzneimittel, S. 361 ; und 2te Auflage, S. 522. Stuttgart, 
1840. 

| Nuove Esperienze, &c. Milan, 1823, 8vo. ; and Annali Universali di 
Medicina, xxvii. 161, and xxviii. 22. 

* Riecke, Op. cit. S. 361; und 2te Auflage, S. 553. Stuttgart, 1840. 



PIPERINA. 479 

chona acted like a charm. In general, a burning sensation was 
experienced in the stomach after taking it, as well as in the 
throat, with the same kind of feeling occasionally in the rectum, 
and in the whole abdomen ; and in two young individuals, the 
eyes were made red, and the eyelids, nose, and lips were swollen. 

Piperin has, likewise, been employed by others beside the Ita- 
lian physicians. Dr. Blom, of Utrecht, has given it in intermit- 
tents, but not with as much success as the quinia. According to 
him, the remedy, soon after it is taken, particularly in very im- 
pressible persons, occasions a sense of internal heat, especially 
in the epigastric region, and not unfrequently it causes perspira- 
tion, especially on the upper lip. Blom is, however, doubtful, 
whether these effects be ascribable to the piperin, or to a portion 
of the resin of the pepper remaining united with it. He is of 
opinion, that both in general debility, and in debility of the diges- 
tive apparatus, piperin merits a preference over sulphate of qui- 
nia, both because it can be better borne by the stomach, and be- 
cause it acts more tonically upon it. 

It has been given in intermittent fever, with great success, by 
Dr. Hartte,* Port of Spain, West Indies. He prescribed it as 
soon as the sweating stage was established, until IS grains had 
been taken, and on the following day, when the intermission was 
complete, he directed the same quantity every three hours. It 
succeeded, in every case, in checking the paroxysm, and as soon 
as this was accomplished he gave, for some days, pills composed 
of Pilula Hydrargyri, Piperin, and Sulphate of Quinia, the for- 
mula for which is given below. 

In inflammatory intermittent^ as well as in those with gastric 
complications, piperin is to be avoided. 

Magendie suggests that it should be given in blomorrhcea, in 
place of cubebs. 



METHOD OF ADMINISTERING. 

Pilulsc piperinse. 

Pills of piperin. 

R. Piperin. gr. xij. 

Extract, gentian. <\.s. ut fiant pilulae xij. 

Dose. — One every hour during the apyrexia of fever. 

* Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. Jan, 1841, p. 98. 



480 PLATINI PR-EPARATA. 

Pilulfe piperinrc composite. 

Compound pills ofpiperin. 

R. Pil. hydrarg. gr. i. 
Piperin. gr. ij. 
Quinize sulphat. gr. ij. 
Syrup, q. s. ut fiat pilula. 

One to be taken morning, noon, and night. 

Hartte. 



CXIII. PLAT'INI PRiEPARA'TA. 

Synonyme. Preparations of Platinum or Platina. 

EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The preparations of platinum have not been much used in 
medicine. Recently, experimental researches have been under- 
taken by M. F. Holer,* in regard to their employment as physio- 
logical and therapeutical agents ; and the following are the main 
results. Experiments were made on rabbits, dogs, and on him- 
self, with the view of discovering the physiological action of the 
perchloride of platinum or chloroplalinic acid, of the chloro- 
platinate of sodium or the double chloride of platinum and 
sodium; of the chloroplatinate of potassium, and the chloro- 
jilatinate of ammonium. He found — First. That the chlorides 
of platinum are poisonous. — the perchloride in the dose of 15 
grains; the chloroplatinate of sodium in that of 3ss. Secondly. 
The chlorides of platinum are less poisonous than the chloride of 
gold, and corrosive sublimate. Thirdly. The perchloride of 
platinum, in concentrated solution, produces violent itching or 
irritation of the skin, followed by a slight eruption on the part 
to which the solution has been applied. Taken internally, it 
first of all irritates the mucous membrane of the stomach, oc- 
casions headache, reacts on the nervous centre, and through it 
exerts a special alterative action on the fluids of the economy. 
Fourthly. The chloroplatinate of sodium produces no local 

* Gazette Medicale de Paris, No. 48, 1840; and Journal de Pharmacie, 
Avril, 1841, p. 213. 



PLATINI BICHLORIDUM. 481 

irritation on the skin. Taken internally, it does not react on the 
nervous centres in as manifest a manner as the simple perchlo- 
ride. It more especially increases the urinary secretion. Fifthly. 
The perchloride of platinum is a very efficacious remedy in the 
treatment of syphilitic diseases, and especially in those that have 
been of long duration, and are inveterate. Sixthly. The chloro- 
platinate of sodium is more proper for the treatment of recent 
syphilitic diseases. It is also very efficacious in the treatment of 
rheumatic affections. Seventhly. Platinum ought to be ranked 
in the class of alterative remedies, by the side of gold, iodine and 
arsenic. It differs from mercury in previously inducing excite 
ment ; whilst its administration is not followed by any of the 
disagreeable consequences induced by mercury. Eighthly, and 
lastly. Platinum is preferable, as an alterative, to mercury and 
gold. 



PLAT'INI BICHLO'RIDUM. 

Synonymes. Platini Perchloric! um, Bichloride or Perchloride of Platinum. 
French. Bichlorure ou Perchlorure de Platine* 

This preparation is made by dissolving platinum in aqua regia, 
and evaporating the solution to dryness. A very gentle heat 
ought to be used ; otherwise the bichloride maybe decomposed ; 
and the protochloride, or even reduced platinum, be the result. 

Bichloride of platinum in concentrated solution or in the solid 
state is of a deep red colour. It is very deliquescent ; very solu- 
ble in water, and soluble also in alcohol. 



Mistura platini perchloridi. 

Mixture of chloride of platinum. 

(Potion platinique.) 

R. Platin. perchlorid. sice. gr. iss, 
Mucilacr. acac. 
Aquae, aa. f-o'ij- 

To be taken by table-spoonfuls in the course of the 24 hours. 



41 



4S2 SODII CHLOROPLATINAS. 

Pilule platini perchloridi. 

Pills of perchlorlde of platinum. 

(Pilules platiniques.) 

R. Platin. perchlorid. gr. viij. 
Guaiac. resin, gi. 
Glycyrrhiz. pulv. q. s. ut fiant pil. xx. 

Dose. — One, two, three, or four, morning and evening. 

Unguentum platini perchloridi. 

Ointment of per chloride of platinum. 

(Pomrnade platinique.) 

R. Platin. perchlorid. gr. xv. 
Extract, belladon. 3ss. 
Adipis, §i. 

To be applied to indolent ulcers. 



SO'DII CHLOROPLATINAS. 

Synonymes. Chloroplatinate of Sodium, Double Chloride of Platinum and 

Sodium. 
French. Chloroplatinate de Sodium, Chlorure Double de Platine et de 

Sodium. 

The chloroplatinate of sodium is prepared by dissolving bichlo- 
ride of platinum and very pure chloride of sodium in proper 
proportions in water, evaporating and crystallizing. It is soluble 
in water and in alcohol, and crystallizes in beautiful transparent 
prisms of an intensely yellow colour. 



PLUMBI IODIDUM. 483 

Mistura sodii chloroplatinatis. 

Mixture of chloroplatinate of sodium. 

{Potion de chloroplatinate de sodium.) 

R. Platin. perchlorid. gr. v. 
Sodii chlorid. pur. gr. viij. 
Mucilag. acac. 
Aquae, aa. f.^iij. 

To be taken by spoonfuls in the 24 hours. 

Injectio sodii chloroplatinatis. 
Injection of chloroplatinate of sodium. 

{Injection de chloroplatinate de sodium.') 

R. Sodii chloroplatinat. crystalliz. gss. 
Decoct, papaveris, Oss. 

The experiments of M. Hofer with the salts of platinum have 
not been numerous ; but they confirm the assertion of Magendie, 
that they possess properties analogous to those of the salts of 
gold. 



CXIV. PLUMBI IODIDUM. 

Synontmes. Plumbi Ioduretum seu Iodetum, P. Hydriodas, P. Iodhy- 
dras, Plumbum Iodatum, P. Hydroiodicum, Iodide or Ioduret of Lead. 

French. Iodure de Plomb. 

German. Bleiiodid, Iodblei, Bleiiodiire, Einfach Iodblei, Hydriodsaures 
oder Iodwasserstoffsaures Blei. 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

This preparation may be made by adding a solution of one 
hundred parts of iodide of potassium to a solution of seventy-five 
parts of acetate of lead. 



4S4 PLTJMBI I0DIDUM. 

The London Pharmacopoeia of 1836, gives the following form : 
— Take of Acetate of lead, nine ounces ; Iodide of potassium, 
seven ounces ; Distilled water, a gallon (imperial measure) : dis- 
solve the acetate of lead in six pints of the water, and filter; and 
to these add the iodide of potassium, previously dissolved in two 
pints of the water: wash the precipitate and dry it. 

In the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia, it is directed to be prepared 
by the double decomposition of nitrate of lead and iodide of 
potassium. Dr. Christison* considers, that the nitrate is t prefer- 
able to the acetate of lead, as being more uniform in composition, 
and free from any excess of oxide of lead, which interferes 
with the purity of the product. 

Iodide of lead is in the form of a bright yellow colour, and, ac- 
cording to Soubeiran,t is soluble in 1235 parts of cold water ; and 
is somewhat more soluble in boiling water, which, on cooling, 
deposits the iodide in minute, shining, yellow, crystalline scales. 
Riecke % says it is soluble in 1200 parts of cold water, and in 200 
of hot. When heated, it melts, and is dissipated in vapours, 
which are at first yellow, and afterwards violet. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Iodide of lead is not an irritant, when applied even to a de- 
nuded surface. § M. Paton|| administered twelve grains of it to a 
cat of moderate size. In four hours the animal did not appear 
to experience any inconvenience; twelve more grains were then 
given ; in twelve hours, the animal became uneasy, and con- 
stantly refused every kind of food. It appeared to suffer in the 
kidneys ; subsequently, it was attacked with violent colic, which 
caused it to jump to great heights. Three days after taking the 
iodide, it died, suffering dreadfully. The dissection was made 
twelve hours afterwards, when no traces of irritation were per- 
ceptible. M. Paton examined the exterior of the stomach chemi- 
cally, but was unable to detect any of the iodide, nor could any 
portion of it be discovered in the fasces. He then boiled the 
intestines and their contained matters in distilled water ; the 
liquid was filtered and decolourised by charcoal, but no effect 
was induced by the tests for lead. The matter remaining on 

* Dispensatory, p. 711. Edinburgh, 1842. 

f Traite de Pharmaeie ; and Dr. Wood, in Dispensatory of the United 
States of America, by Drs. Wood and Bache, 4th edit. p. 998. Philad. 1839. 

% Die neuern Arzneirnittel, u. s. w. 2te Auflage, S. 563. Stuttgart, 1840. 

§ Eager, in Dublin Journal for 1834. 

|| British Annals of Medicine, Mar. 3, 1837 ; and Journal de Chimie Medi- 
cal, Jan. 1837. 



PLUMBI IODIDUM. 485 

the filter was digested in dilate nitric acid : the solution was 
filtered, and a precipitate obtained on pouring in a solution of 
chromate of potassa. The liquid was evaporated; the residue 
calcined along with what was left by the evaporation of the 
water, and the whole brought in contact with dilute nitric acid. 
Nitrous gas was disengaged, and the solution responded to re- 
agents like the solutions of the salts of lead. M. Paton infers, 
that iodide of lead introduced into the stomach is partly absorbed, 
and that it is this portion which causes death, — the remainder 
passing into the intestines, and admitting of detection by the 
method described. 

When given internally, in the dose of a. quarter or half a grain, 
Velpeau thought, that it occasioned, in one instance, irritation 
in the alimentary canal ; but Dr. O'Shaughnessy thinks that 
this result must have been owing to idiosyncrasy, as ten-grain 
doses can be borne with perfect impunity. The experiments of 
Dr. Cogswell* show, that it is by no means an active agent, and 
that its physiological operations do not correspond with its thera- 
peutical effects ; as, in continued doses, it produced the constitu- 
tional action of lead, and not at all that of iodine. 

Owing to its not exciting cutaneous irritation — like iodine, 
and iodide of potassium — iodide of lead has been applied exter- 
nally. Velpeaut treated three cases of enlarged glands with very 
gratifying success, although the patients had used frictions with 
other preparations of iodine ineffectually. Similar good effects 
were observed by Guersent, Roots, and others. Dr. Christisoni. 
has seen it repeatedly useful to appearance in obstinate ulcers, 
especially when " consecutive to mercurio-syphilitic eruptions 
in strumous habits." 



P i lula; plumbi iodidi. 
Pills of iodide of lead. 

R. Plumbi iodid. gr. iv. 

Confect. rostE, 9j. M. et divide in pilulas xij. 

Dose. — One night and morning, in scrophulous affections of 
the glands, joints, &c. The dose may be gradually increased 
to three or four pills, or more. J°y-h 

• Essay on Iodine, p. 142. Edinb. 1837. 
f Logpl, Essays on Jodine, &c, by O'Shaughnessy, p. 20C 
% Dispensatory, p. 712. Edinb. 1813. 

§ Tweedie's Library of Medicine, v. 320. Loud. 1840; or 2d Aincr. Edit, 
vol. iii. Fbilad. 1842. 
41* 



4S6 PLUMBI TANNAS. 

Unguent um plumbi iodidi. 

Ointment of iodide of lead. 

R. Plumbi iodid. 3j. 
Adipis, sviij. M. 

Applied to scrophulous and other indolent swellings in the 
form of friction. Lond. Pharm. 



CXV. PLUMBI TANNAS. 



Synonymes. Tannate of Lead. 
French. Tannate de Plomb. 
German. Gerbsloff blei. 



Autenrieth* has strongly recommended tannate of lead in 
cases of paratrimma ad decubitum, that is, of sores produced by 
lying, and its advantages have been confirmed by others. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Tannate of lead is formed by precipitating an infusion of oak 
bark by acetate of lead, according to the following formula : 
" Take of oak bark, in coarse powder, an ounce ; boil in eight 
ounces of water, until, when strained, four ounces remain : add 
acetate of lead as long as any precipitate falls ; filter the liquor 
through bibulous paper, and dry the precipitate remaining on the 
paper to the consistence of a thin ointment." 

Dr. Tott has recommended it in cases of decubitus gangrse- 
nosus, or sloughing sores produced by lyingA In one case, in 
which it appeared to be inefficacious, he took two drams of the 
dried precipitate, mixed it with an ounce of unguentum rosatum, 
and used this unguentum plumbico-tannicum with success. 

* British Annals of Medicine, June 2, 1837 ; and Journ. de Chimie Medi- 
cale, Mars, 1837. 

f Grafe und Walther's Journal der Chirurgie, B. xxiv. S. 676, Berlin, 
1836; and Gazette Medicale, Jan. 1837. 



POTASS^ CHLORAS. 48 7 



CXVI. POTAS'SJE CHLORAS. 

Synonymes. Kali Chlorieum, K. Chlorinicum, Chloras Kalicus Depuratus, 
Chloras Potassicus, Alcali Vegetabile Salito-dephlogisticatum, Chloruretum 
Potassa? Oxidatum, Haloidum Oxygenatum, Marias Potassa? Hyperoxygena- 
tum seu Oxygenatum, Oxygeno-chloruretum Potassii, Kali Oxymuriaticum, 
Kali iMuriatic urn Hyperoxygenatum,Potassa3 Euchloras, Chlorate of Potassa, 
Chlorate of Protoxide of Potassium, Oxymuriate of Potassa, Hyperoxymu- 
riate of Potassa. 

French. Chlorate de Potasse. 

German. Chlorsaures Kali, Oxydirt Salzsaures oder Hyperoxygenirt Salzsaures 
Kali. 

METHOD OF PREPARING. 

la the chemical manufactories, chlorate of potassa is prepared 
by passing chlorine gas into a solution of carbonate of potassa. 
In this way, chlorate of potassa is obtained mixed with more or 
less chloride of potassium. The salt prepared in the laboratories, 
before it is adapted to medical use, should be purified by recrys- 
tallisation. It is to be observed, that when the adequate quan- 
tity of chlorine gas is not employed in the preparation, the re- 
sulting compound is analogous to chlorinated soda and chlori- 
nated lime, and in action it agrees rather with those preparations 
than with the true chlorate of potassa. This may tend to ex- 
plain the discrepancy in the experience of different physicians. 

Chlorate of potassa crystallises in white leaves, having the 
splendour of mother-of-pearl, or in four or six-sided tables, hav- 
ing a specific gravity of 1.989. It is permanent in the air, and 
has a cool, saline, disagreeable taste, similar to that of saltpetre. 
Six parts are soluble, at the ordinary temperature, in 100 parts 
of water. When exposed to heat, oxygen escapes, and chloride 
of sodium remains. When beaten forcibly in a mortar, it crackles, 
and emits light, and sparks. When rubbed lightly with inflam- 
mable substances, or when struck, it inflames readily, and hence 
its well known employment in the formation of matches. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

These have not been completely tested, in the opinion of some 
at least.* L. W. S.uhs, who has frequently administered it, is of 
opinion, thai in this salt the direct effect of the alkali is rendered 
milder by the chloric acid, whilst the alkali modifies that of the 

* Riecke, Die ncuern Arzneimittel, S. 300, und 2te Auflage, S. 451. 
Stuttgart, 1810. 



48S POTASS.E CHLORAS. 

acid ; in this manner, the caustic property of the alkali is de- 
stroyed ; whilst the liquifying or resolvent (jluidisirende) pro- 
perty is moderated, but not removed. On the other hand, by the 
union of the chloric acid with the alkali, the powerful excitant 
action on the nerves, which the former exerts, is at the same time 
markedly moderated, although certainly not destroyed ; the mode 
in which it is exerted, he thinks, is probably changed. By such 
a union, a medicine has been supposed to be formed, which acts 
chiefly on the nervous system, and which is capable of mitigat- 
ing and probably of removing any morbid erethism therein, with 
the hypersesthesia thereby induced. 

Such is the opinion of certain therapeutists. Others imagine, 
that it is capable of purifying the mass of blood in consequence of 
the chlorine it contains; but a salt of chloric acid is not possessed 
of the same properties as chlorine ; and, accordingly, when the 
author has found occasion to administer it, he has never wit- 
nessed any of the effects ascribed to it ; nor has he seen any evi- 
dence of the ??iodus operandi on the nervous system mentioned 
above, or of its imparting oxygen to the blood as supposed by 
some.* The saline powder given below, which was considered 
by Dr. Stevens to be so useful in many febrile affections, is af- 
firmed by Mr. Braithwaitef to have been very beneficial in 
typhous cases, marked by dry, parched, brown or black tongue ; 
dark sordes on the teeth and gums, &c, &c. In almost every 
case, he found the dark appearances in the mouth to be altered 
in an incredibly short time. 

From its excitant properties, and under the notion that it may 
act upon the blood, and through the blood on the functions of nu- 
trition as an excellent alterative, chlorate of potassa has been 
recommended in chronic cutaneous diseases in general, as well as 
in hepatic and syphilitic affections. It has also been occasion- 
ally administered in cases of chronic asthenia. 

KohlerJ employed it in several cases of tubercular phthisis, 
and notwithstanding the general results of his experiments were 
unfavourable, he thinks it ought to be admitted into the number 
of those remedies that are useful in phthisis, although its stimu- 
lating action on the circulating and pulmonary systems cannot 
be denied. Its use is contraindicated where the fever runs high, 
and where there is any sign of inflammation of the lungs, or ten- 
dency to haemoptysis. Dr. Christison§ states, that he has tried 
the effects of seven-grain doses three times a day in phthisis, 

* See Stevens on the Blood, p. 296. London, 1832 ; and Pereira, Elements 
of Mat. Med. and Therap. 2d. edit. i. 514, Lond. 1842; or Amer. edit, by Dr. 
Carson, Philad. 1843. 

f Retrospect of Practical Medicine and Surgery, July to December, 1840, 
p. 275. 

X Rust's Magazin, B. xlvi. 

§ Dispensatory, p. 73'J. Edinb. 1842. 



POTASS^ CHLORAS. 4S9 

but could not observe any physiological or therapeutical action 
whatever. 

Sachs, in accordance with the views before mentioned, in re- 
gard to its antineuropathic properties, has advised it in cases of 
prosopalgia. He affirms, that, in a great many instances, it afford- 
ed essential relief. Chisholm appears to have been one of the 
earliest to prescribe it in neuralgia faciei ; and, after him, Her- 
ber, and subsequently, B. Schaffer, Jos. Frank, Meyer, and 
others, employed it both as a curative and palliative agent in that 
disease. It has likewise been advised in obstinate rheumatism 
of the nervous kind, by Knod von Helmenstreit ; and Eyr has 
extolled it in ulceration of the mouth after violent salivation. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Sachs prescribed it in the dose of from three to six grains, 
three or four times a day, but some give it in much larger 
quantity. It may be administered either in the form of powder 
or of solution. 

It would appear, as Dr. Pereira has properly remarked,* that 
most of the uses of this salt have been founded on certain views 
of chemical pathology, some of which are now considered un- 
tenable. It passes through the kidneys unchanged, and conse- 
quently the notion, that it furnishes oxygen to the system must 
be discarded. From the results of the author's numerous trials 
with it, he is disposed to accord with Dr. Christison,t that no 
evidence has yet been published of such a nature as to entitle it 
to admission into the Pharmacopoeias : yet it is officinal in the 
London Pharmacopoeia. 



Palves p o t as sac c 111 or at i s compositns. 

Compound powder of chlorate ofpotassa. 

(S/evens's Saline Powder.) 

R. Potassm chlorat. gr. viij. 
Sodii chlorici. gx. xx. 
Soda bicarbonat. gr. xxx. M. 

One of these to be given every two or three hours in low 
febrile cases. Stevens. 

* [bid, p. 514. 

| Ibid. p. 738, Edinb. 1842. 



490 potass^: CHLORAS. 

Liquor potasss chloratis. 

Solution of chlorate qfpotassa. 

Solutio Murialis Potassz Oxygenali, Liquor ad Ulcera Monica. 

R. Potassse chlorat. Jj. 

Aqusedestillat. f.5xij. M. 

To be applied to indolent ulcers, by means of lint dipped in 
it, or of a camel's hair pencil, to excite the tissues. 

Swed'iaur.* 

P otus pot assffi chloratis. 

Drink of chlorate ofpotassa. 

(Polus oxygenatus. — French. Tisane oxyg^nee.) 

R. Liquor, potass, chlorat. Oij. 
Aquae, Oiv. M. 

Given internally, in cases of general asthenia. 

Dose. — One or two pints a day. Swed'iaur. 

Mistura potassisc chloratis. 

Mixture of chlorate ofpotassa. 

R. Potassse chlorat. 5iss. 
Aqua? destill. f.5iv. 
Solve. 

Dose. — A spoonful, every two hours. 

Von Helmenstreit. 

Eyr dissolves twenty-five grains of the chlorate in four fluid 
ounces of distilled ivater, and administers a spoonful three times 
a day. 

R. Potass, chlorat. 3j. 
Aquae destillat. f-.^iv. 
Syrup althg?ffi, f.gj. M. 

Dose. — A table-spoonful, four times a day. Kohler. 

* Pharm. Med. Pract., Bruxelles, 1817, 2d edit. 



POTASSII BROMIDTTM. 491 



CXVII. POTAS'SII BRO'MIDUM. 

Synonymes. Kalinm Bromatum, Bromuretum Potassicum, B. sen Brometum 
Kalii, B. Potassii, Bromide of Potassium. In Solution, Hydrobromate of 
Potassa, Potasss Hydrobromas, Kali Hydrobromicum, Bromhydras Po- 



French. Bromure de Potasse. 

German. Bromkalium, Kaliumbromid, Kaliumbromiire, Bromwasserstoffsau- 
res oder Hydrobromsaures Kali. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

According to Liebig, this preparation can be readily made by- 
dissolving bromine in alcohol, and adding caustic alkali until 
the spirit begins to change colour, then evaporating and heating 
to redness. In the London Pharmacopoeia, it is directed to be 
made by adding first an ounce of iron filings, and afterwards 
two ounces of bromine to a pint and a half of distilled water. 
The mixture is set aside for half an hour, and frequently stirred 
with a spatula: a gentle heat is then applied, and when a 
greenish colour is produced, two ounces and a dram of carbonate 
of potassa, dissolved in a pint and a half of water, are poured 
in : what remains is filtered and washed with two pints of boil- 
ing distilled water, and again filtered. The mixed solutions 
are then evaporated, that crystals may form. 

Liebig says it crystallises in four-sided shining tables : accord- 
ing to Balard,* commonly in tubes, and at times in long rectan- 
gular parallelopipedons. It has a pungent taste like that of com- 
mon salt but more acrid ; and is devoid of odour. By heat, it 
crepitates, and melts into a red hot flux, without experiencing 
change. It is more soluble in hot than in cold water ; producing, 
during its solution, evident cold, and becoming converted into 
hydrobromate of potassa. It is also soluble in alcohol, although 
in small quantity. The solution of bromide of potassium dissolves 
no more bromine than pure water. 



EFFECTS ON TIIE ECONOMY. 

Bromide of potassium excites the same phenomena as bromine, 
but with less intensity. From a dram and a half to two drams 
is needed to kill a dog. The animal appears to suffer j is restless, 

* Annales de Chimie, torn, xxxii. 



492 POTASSII BROMIDUM. 

and gradually falls into a state of prostration. In smaller doses, 
it appears to act powerfully on the human stomach. The bro- 
mide, like bromine, seems first to have been applied to therapeu- 
tical purposes by Pourche.* Two cases of scrophulous tumours 
are reported by him to have been removed by friction with an 
ointment composed thereof, and a cataplasm sprinkled with an 
aqueous solution. In a third patient, chronic otorrhcea and scro- 
phulous tumefaction of the testicle yielded to the same agency, 
combined with the internal use of bromine. A very large goitre 
was reduced two-thirds by it. 

Pourche prescribed the bromide internally in the form of pill, 
in the dose of four to eight grains in the day. 

Magendiet employed the preparations of bromine ins crop hula, 
in amenorrhoea, and in hypertrophy of the ventricles of t he heart. 
Prieger recommended an ointment of" Kali bi^omicum" in inve- 
terate porrigo favosa as well as in obstinate and malignant tet- 
ter, and with good success ; and Dr. Williams! in cases of en- 
larged spleen. The last gentleman suggests, that it possesses 
" unusual, if not specific (?) powers in the cure of diseases of the 
spleen." It was owing to these results that the bromide was in- 
troduced into the London Pharmacopoeia, of 1836. § Dr. Williams 
also gave it with success in a case of ascites. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Liquor pot assii bromidi. 
Solution of bromide of potassium. 

B. Potassii bromidi, gr. vi. — viij. — x. 
Aquae lactucae, f.^iij. 
Syrup altheea?, f.^i- M. 

To be given in the course of the twenty-four hours, in table- 
spoonfuls. 

Magendie. 



* Journ. de Chimie Medicale, iv. 594 ; see, also, Bulletin General de The- 
rapeutique, No. 14, Juillet 30, 1837. 

f Formulaire, Ed. cit. 

% Elements of Medicine, i. 338. 

§ Pereira, Elements of Materia Medica and Therap. 2d edit. i. p. 499, 
Philad. 1842; or Amer. edit, by Dr. Carson, Philad. 1843; and Brande's 
Diet, of Mat. Med. p. 126. Lond. 1839. 



POTASSII CYANURETTJM. 493 

Ungnentum potassii bromidi. 

Ointment of bromide of potassium. 

R. Adipis, 3j. 

Potass, bromid. gr. xxxiv. M. 

From half a dram to a dram to be rubbed on scrophulous 
swellings. Magendie. 

M. Pourche employs 3j. of the bromide to the ounce of lard. 

R. Axung. gj. 

Potassii bromid. gr. xxiv. 
Bromini liquid, gr. vi. ad xij. M. 

Magendie. 



CXVIII. POTAS'SII CYANURETUM. 

Svnonymes. Potassii Cyanidam, Kali Hydrocyanicum, Kalium Cyanogena- 
tum, Cyanuretum Potassicum seu Kalii, Cyanidum Kalii, Cyanetum Kalii, 
Hydrocyanas sea Cyanhydras Potassee seu Kalicus, Cyanide or Cyanuret of 
Potassium. 

French. Cyanure de Potassium. 

German. Cyankalium, Blaustoffkalium, Kaliumcyanure, Hydrocyansaures 
Kali. 

This preparation was proposed by MM. Robiquet and Viller- 
me,* as a substitute for hydrocyanic acid. It is, in their opinion, 
far more certain in its effects than that preparation. 

METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Cyanuret of potassium is formed whenever potassa is calcined 
with an animal matter, as in the preparation of the Prussian 
blue. It is commonly prepared, after the process of Robiquet, 
by exposing to long continued heat the ferruginous prussiate of 
potassa. The cyanuret of iron is completely decomposed, and 
that of the potassium remains. The residuum, after this strong 
calcination, constitutes a solid, blackish mass, which consists 
wholly of cyanuret of potassium, soiled by the iron and the char- 
coal belonging to the cyanuret of iron. The mass is dissolved 
in water, when the iron and charcoal are deposited ; whilst the 

* Bulletin de la Socfctt Medicale d'Kmulation, Juillet, 1823. See, also, 
Dr. James Hamilton and Mr. Thos. G. Mackenzie, in the Maryland Medical 
and Surgical Journal, Apl. 1810, p. 201. 
42 



494 POTASSII CYANURETUM. 

cyanuret of potassium dissolves, and is transformed into hydro- 
cyanate of potassa. When the process has been well conducted, 
the solution is perfectly colourless, and retains no portion of 
iron. 

M. Chevallier* considers this process to be impracticable, as 
the cyanuret decomposes water on coming in contact with it. 
The result, therefore, must be hydrocyanate of potassa; and, on 
heating this, all the hydrocyanic acid escapes, and the residue 
is merely potassa. He prepares the salt by calcining ferro- 
cyanuret of potassium, and then separating the cyanuret from 
the quadricarburet of iron by pure alcohol: on distilling this, 
the cyanuret is obtained very pure. 

Dr. Hamilton and Mr. Mackenzie, of Baltimore,! recommend 
the following process as most convenient and simple : — Expose, 
— say four ounces of the dried ferrocyanuret of potassium in a 
common Hessian crucible to a red heat, until nitrogen ceases to 
pass over ; (this generally takes from one and a half to two 
hours ;) then, breaking the crucible, powder the black mass 
quickly, and add — say sixteen fluid ounces of alcohol, stirring 
the mixture repeatedly, until it acquires the temperature of 
about 150° Fahr. ; then filter, and evaporate by a sand or water 
bath regulated so as to be below the boiling point of alcohol ; 
for if heated above this temperature, oil of wine is formed, which 
is gradually decomposed during the process, and carbon is de- 
posited, which blackens the mixture. The evaporation should 
be carried on so as to have as great an extent of surface exposed 
as possible. The ferrocyanuret will be found to have yielded 
six or seven drams of the cyanuret, which is dry, inodorous and 
perfectly white. 

The following process is directed in the last edition of the 
Pharmacopoeia of the United States (1842): — Take si ferrocya- 
nuret of potassium, in powder, 3viij.; Distilled water, f.^vj. 
Expose the ferrocyanuret to a moderate heat until it becomes 
nearly white, and is wholly deprived of its water of crystalliza- 
tion. Put the residue in an earthern retort, with the beak loosely 
stopped, and expose it to a red heat for two hours, or till gas 
ceases to be disengaged. Withdraw the retort from the fire, 
close the orifice with lute, and then let the whole remain until 
quite cold. Break the retort, remove the black mass, reduce it 
to coarse powder, introduce into a bottle of the capacity of twelve 
fluid ounces, and then add the distilled water. Agitate the 
mixture occasionally for half an hour, throw it on a filter, evapo- 
rate the filtered solution rapidly to dryness, and keep the dry 
mass in a closely stopped bottle. 

* Journ. de Chimie Medicale, and Journal of Phila. College of Pharmacy, 
1832. 
} Op. cit. p. 203. 



POTASSII CYANURETTJM. 495 

Pure cyanuret of potassium is white and transparent : it may- 
be fused in the fire without being decomposed, and keeps for an 
indefinite period, provided it be preserved dry. It is very 
soluble in water, but sparingly so in alcohol. All acids decom- 
pose it, even the carbonic : hence the solution, when exposed to 
the air, emits the smell of hydrocyanic acid ; and carbonate of 
potassa is formed, in the place of the hydrocyanate of potassa. 
It has a sharp, somewhat alkaline, and bitter almond taste, and 
an alkaline reaction. Its solution, when exposed to the air, ex- 
hales the odour of cyanohydric acid. 

EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY, 

MM. Robiquet and Villerme performed some experiments on 
animals in the presence of Magendie.* A tenth of a grain de- 
stroyed a male linnet in a minute; less than a grain killed a 
guinea-pig in two or three minutes : a small drop of the hydro- 
cyanate of potassa, containing only the hundredth part of a grain 
of the cyanuret in solution, caused a linnet to drop down dead in 
half a minute. Half a dram containing five grains of the cya- 
nuret, killed a dog of large size in a quarter of an hour. 

Magendie proposes, that the cyanuret of potassium should be 
dissolved in eight times its weight of distilled water, when it be- 
comes transformed into hydrocyanate of potassa. To this solution, 
he gives the name medicinal hydrocyanate of potassa, and ad- 
vises that it should be given under the same circumstances, and in 
the same doses, as the medicinal hydrocyanic acid (see page 19 
and 29). He farther suggests, that to render it wholly inde- 
pendent of the action of the small portion of alkali contained in 
the cyanuret, a few drops of some vegetable acid may be added, 
or it may be prescribed with an acid syrup. 

The dose of the cyanuret is a quarter of a grain at first, gra- 
dually increased to a grain and more. M. Bally gave it to fifty- 
two individuals labouring under different diseases ; it produced 
no effect on thirty-five ; and, on the others, the result was neither 
constant nor salutary, so that he is not inclined to place more 
reliance upon the cyanuret than upon the hydrocyanic acid. 

By Dr. Lombard,! of Geneva, it has been applied externally, 
with success, in some cases of facial neuralgia. He uses it by 
friction, in the form of watery solution, or of ointment, according 
to circumstances. The watery solution is in the strength of from 
one to four grains to the ounce of water; and the ointment is 
composed of from two to four grains of the cyanuret to an ounce 

* Formulaire pour la Preparation, &c. de plusieurs Nouveaux Mcdica- 
mens, &c. 
| Gazette des Hopitaux, and Lond. Med. Gaz. Sept. 1831. 



4.96 POTASSII CYANTJRETUM. 

of lavd. The aqueous solution, however, is considered by Dr. 
Lombard to be the most prompt in its effects. He regards 
the cyanuret to be contraindicated, where the nervous affec- 
tion is complicated with inflammatory action. He has found 
it a useful remedy, also, in chronic rheumatism. In sciatic 
neuralgia, it was not successful. In white swelling, attended 
with acute pains, poultices moistened with the solution, gave 
great relief, Dr. Lombard, indeed, affirms, that the soothing 
properties of the cyanuret are superior to those of any remedy 
known. Lotions of hydrocyanic acid are not to be compared 
with it, — the acid being decomposed with facility, and not 
devoid of danger. 

In a case of acute rheumatism, attacking the articulations of 
a chlorotic young female, M. Malherbe,* after leeching, applied 
compresses over the joints affected, moistened with a solution 
of the cyanuret — ten grains to the ounce of distilled water. In 
forty-eight hours, the pains ceased. It is probable, however, 
that much of the good effect was owing to the compression. 

MM. Trousseau and Rulliert also recommend the cyanuret, 
in the proportion of four grains to an ounce of water, as a local 
application in various forms of neuralgia. 

M. AndralJ employed it with complete success in a case of 
intense cephalalgia, which, for ten months, had resisted the most 
powerful remedies, as bleeding, a seton in the neck, hlisters and 
sinapisms. It was used in solution, in the proportion of from 
six to eight grains to the ounce of distilled water ; and com- 
presses, wet with the solution, were applied, for eight days, to 
the forehead and temples. 

MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Mistura potassii cyanureti. 

Mixture of cyanuret of potassium. 

Mixture of hydrocyanate of potassa. 

Pectoral Mixture, of Magendie. 

R. Potass, hydrocyan. med. i.Q. 
Aquas destillat. Oj. 
Sacchar. siss. M. 

Dose. — About five drams(a table-spoonful), night and morning. 

* Journal des Connaissances Medico-Chirurgicales. 

f Lond. Med. and Surg. Journ, Dec. 15, 1832 ; and Amer. Journ. of the 
Med. Sciences, May, 1833, p. 238. 
\ Gazette Medicale, Jan. 1832. 






POTASSII CYANURETUM. 497 



{Pectoral potion.) 

R. Potass, hydrocyan. med. gtt. xv. 
Infus. heder. terrestr. f.gij. 
Syrup, althaea, f.gj. M. 

Dose. — Five grammes (a tea-spoonful) every three hours. 

Magendie. 

R. Potassi cyanur. gr. \. 
Aquas lactucae, f§ij. 
Syrup, althffias, f.gj. M. 

Dose. — Five drams (a table-spoonful) every two hours. 

Magendie. 

R, Tinct. castor. 
Moschi, 

Potassse nitrat. aa. gr. iv.. 
Potassii cyanuret. gr. ij. 
Aquae flor. tiliae, sea 
Aquae cinnamom. f.jfviij. 

To be taken in the course of the twenty-four hours, in chorea. 

Fauquier. 

Syrnpns potassii cyanureti. 

Syrup of cyanuret of potassium. 

R. Potass, hydrocyanat. medic. f-5J. 
Syrupi, Oi. 

This syrup may be added to pectoral draughts, and may be 
substituted for other syrups. 

PilolaB potassii cyanureti. 

Pills of cyanuret of potassium.. 

R. Potassii cyanur. 
Amyli, aa. gr. iv. 
Syrup, q. s. ut fiat massa in pilulas viij. dividenda.. 

Dose. — A pill, night and morning, in convulsions, dys- 
pncea, &c. Hospital of La Pitie.* 

* Ryan's Formulary, 3d edit. p. 392. Lond. 1839. 
42* 



498 POTASSII IODIDUM. 

Lotio potassi cyanureti. 

Lotion of cyanuret of potassium. 

R. Potass, cyranuret. gr. xij. 
Mist, amygdal. f.3yj. M. 

To be used in lichen, and other chronic eruptions, attended 
with much itching. Louis. 

R. Potass, cyanur. gr. vj. 
Solve in 

Aquas destillat. £53. M. 

Compresses to be wetted with this and applied in cases of 
neuralgia faciei, hemicrania, &c. 

Recamier, Trousseau, Blouquier* 

Unguentum potassii cyanureti. 

Ointment of cyanuret of potassium. 
R. Potass, cyanur. gr. ij. — iv. 
Adipis, jfi. M. 

The size of a hazelnut to be rubbed in, in cases of neuralgia. 

Lombard. 



CXIX. POTASSII IO'DIDUM. 

Synonymes. Kalium Iodatum, Iodidum Kalii, Kali Hydroiodinicum, K. Hy- 
droiodicum,Hydroiodas Kalicus. H. Lixivise, Ioduretum Potassicum,Iodhydras 
Kalicus seu Potassee, Potassii loduretum, Iodide or Ioduret of Potassium. In 
solution — Potassae Hydriodas, Potassii Proto-hydriodas, Potassii Protoxidi 
Hydriodas, Hydroiodas Kalicus, H. Lixiviee, Iodhydras Kalicus seu Potassas, 
Hydriodate of Potassa. 

French. Hydriodate de Potasse, Iodure de Potasse. 

German. Iodkalium, Iodwasserstoffsaures Kali, Kaliumiodlire, Iodinwas 
serstorTKali, Hydriodsaures oder Hydriodinsaures Kali, Kalihydroiodat. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

According to TUnnermann, iodide of potassium is best pre- 
pared in the following manner: 

One part of pure iron filings, with four parts of iodine, is put 

* Lincke, Vollstandiges Recept-Taschenbuch,ii. i;l. Leipz. 1841. 



POTASSII IODIDUM. 499 

into a glass vessel — by many, into a glass retort — and six or 
eight parts of water are poured thereon ; gentle warmth is then 
applied, and the mixture is frequently shaken until the liquid 
appears clear and almost colourless. In this way, hydriodate of 
protoxide of iron is formed, which is dissolved in the water. It 
is now filtered ; the residuum washed several times on the filter 
with distilled water, and under the application of a moderate heat, 
a concentrated solution oipotassa is added, by small portions at 
a time, until a precipitate is no longer thrown down. In this 
process, the potassium separates the iodine from the hydriodic 
acid ; the oxygen of the former unites with the hydrogen of the 
latter 5 protoxide of iron is precipitated, and carbonic acid given 
off, — heat being required for its entire disengagement, to pre- 
vent the formation of a carbonate of protoxide of iron with ex- 
cess of acid, which would be soluble in the water. It is then fil- 
tered, the residue washed on the filter with distilled water, and 
the liquid evaporated so as to form crystals. 

Those chemists or pharmaciens, who are not very accurate 
in their preparations, evaporate the mother waters to dryness, 
satisfying themselves, that although the saline residuum contains 
carbonated alkali, it may answer for external use; which is de- 
cidedly objectionable. To prevent the loss of the iodide, owing to 
its admixture with any carbonate of potassa, in the mother waters, 
Tunnermann finds it most advantageous to neutralise it with 
the hydriodic acid, which may be prepared in the following 
manner : Dissolve about one dram of iodine in not very strong 
alcohol, and pass a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen into the 
solution, until it is wholly deprived of colour. The hydrogen 
unites with the iodine, — the hydriodic acid, thus formed, remain- 
ing dissolved, whilst the sulphur is precipitated. The liquor is 
then filtered, the sulphur washed with a little tvater, and the spirit 
and superfluous sulphuretted hydrogen gas are driven off by 
heating in a glass vessel placed in a sand bath. The remaining 
fluid is diluted with water, filtered, and a warm alkaline ley added 
until litmus paper is only feebly reddened. By evaporation 
iodide of potassium is obtained, which, by repeated solution in 
water, evaporation of the solution, and filtration, is obtained 
entirely pure.* 

The process of Turner is, to take any quantity of the solution 
of caustic potassa, and to add to it gradually, at a gentle heat, 
iodine sufficient to neutralise the alkali ; then evaporating to 
dryness, calcining strongly, dissolving in water, and crystallising.! 

* Rienke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, S. 305. Stuttgart, 1837. 
j- Bache, in Wood and Bache'd Dispensatory of the United States, 4th edit. 
p. 1018, Philad. 1839. 



500 POTASSII IODIDUM. 

Dr. William Gregory* suggested an improvement on the pro- 
cess of Turner, which has been regarded as one of the simplest.t 
It consists in adding iodine to a hot solution of potassa until the 
fluid assumes a yellowish-brown colour, then evaporating, and 
heating the residuum to low redness, in a platinum crucible. 
The mass, which at first consists of iodide of potassium and 
iodate of potassa, thus loses all its oxygen, and becomes convert- 
ed into iodide of potassium. 

The formula of CaillotandBaup is — to take ten parts of iodine 
and fifty of distilled water ; put them into a matrass, and add, 
in small successive portions, of pure iron filings, five parts, — sha- 
king the vessel each time. The liquor is then heated until it loses 
its colour, filtered, and the substance on the filter washed with 
boiling water, until the liquid is tasteless ; the liquor, and the vari- 
ous liquids used in the washings, are united, and the whole is 
heated in a sand bath. When the temperature approaches that 
of ebullition, enough of a solution of carbonate of potassa is 
added, to precipitate all the oxide of iron; it is then filtered, and 
the substance on the filter washed until it is completely exhaust- 
ed. All the liquors are then united, tested by reddened litmus 
paper, and if there be any excess of base, a little hydriodic acid 
is added. It is then evaporated in a sand bath, until a slight pel- 
licle forms ; the fire is now discontinued, and the salt is suffered 
to crystallise. Lastly, the crystals are washed with a little water, 
and dried. £ 

Iodide of potassium is in white or transparent crystals. These 
are readily fused, and are volatilised at a red heat. They do 
not decompose, even when heated with access of air. They are 
readily soluble in water, and in alcohol, and the addition of the 
iodide facilitates greatly the solution of the iodine. 

It would seem, that a slight contamination of iodide of potas- 
sium with carbonate of potassa is exceedingly common, as it can 
with difficulty be avoided in the manufacture of the salt ; but Dr. 
Christison§ affirms, that he has examined specimens, where the 
carbonate, with its accompanying water, amounted to 90 parts 
in the 100. "Can we wonder, then," he asks, "that practitioners 
should complain of the iodide of potassium, that they have given 
it for months, nay, even for years, without observing any effect 

* Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ., xxxvi. 369, for Oct. 1831. 

\ Cogswell, on Iodine, p. 85. 

% Jourdan's Pharmacopee Universelle, i. 662. Paris, 1828; also the Lond. 
Pharmacopoeia, and Brande's Dictionary of Materia Medica, p. 317. Lond. 
1839. This is essentially the process of the Pharmacopoeia of the United States 
(1842). 

§ Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journal, April, 1838 ; and Dispensatory, p. 753, 
Edinb. 1842 ; also, Pereira, Elem. Mat. Med. and Therap. 2d. edit. i. 491, Lond. 
1842 ; or Amer. edit, by Dr. Carson, Philad. 1842. 



POTASSII IODIDUM. 501 

either on the constitution, or on the disease for which it was 
administered ?" 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

As respects the action of iodide of potassium, and its adminis- 
tration in disease, it is scarcely necessary to do more than refer 
to what has been said under the head of iodine. On the whole, 
its effects appear to accord with those of iodine ; at least, no dif- 
ference is perceptible on the organism. It has been supposed, 
that it is better than pure iodine, where the object is to act 
especially on the urinary organs.* For external use, iodide 
of potassium is usually preferred to iodine. It is constantly given 
internally, and often in combination with the latter ; the solu- 
bility of which, as was before remarked, is aided by it. Many of 
the subjoined formulae contain both one and the other. As re- 
marked under Iodine, it is now administered in very large doses 
in a multitude of diseases of different nature, and often, doubt- 
less, where it can render little or no service. 

Dr. Buchanan asserts, that he has given it in doses of gss.,and 
the only precaution he observed was to make the patient drink 
freely of diluents. It was chiefly to determine some physiologi- 
cal questions that he administered it in such large doses. Two 
drams of it were taken by a young man affected with gonorrhoea, 
and as soon as the medicine made its appearance in the urine, 
blood was drawn from the arm. On examining the blood, both 
the serum and crassamentum were found deeply impregnated 
with iodine.-j- On the other hand, Dr. Lawrie, of Glasgow,;}; 
considers it very uncertain and at times dangerous, although he 
esteems it by far the best of the recent remedies, and prescribes 
it more frequently than any other medicine ; and Mr. Mayo§ 
affirms, that no medicine, where it does good, produces amend- 
ment, in constitutional syphilis, so speedily as it. Lugol and 
others appear to have used it mainly as a solvent to iodine, and 
he considers it inferior to the latter as a therapeutical agent •, but 
no chemical or other prepossession can set aside the testimony 
just cited ; or that of such observers as Ricord,|| C. J. B. Wil- 
liams,1F Joy, and a host of others. In the Author's hands, it has 

* Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. S. 306. See, also, Cogswell on 
Iodine, p. 96. 

t London Med. Gaz. July 2, 1836. 

j: Lond. Med. Gaz. July 3, 1810, p. 591. 

§ A Treatise on Syphilis, by Herbert Mayo, F.R.S. Lond. 1840. 

|| Practical Treatise on Venereal Diseases, translated by Druinmond, Amer. 
Edit. Philad. 1843. Parker, Modern Treatment of Syphilitic Diseases, 
Dunglison's Amer. Med. Lib. Edit. p. 77, Philad. 1810 ; and Bulletin General 
de Th<;rap. Juillet, 1840. 

If Lectures on the Physiology and Diseases of the Chest, Bell's Med. 
Library Edit. p. 246. Philadelphia, 1839. 



502 POTASSII IODIDUM. 

appeared to afford as much benefit as any of the preparations 
of iodine. For the testimony in regard to its beneficial and in- 
jurious effects, see Iodine, page 37L 

Cases of salivation from its use has been published by Sir 
Francis W. Smith.* 

According to recent experiments of Magendie.t iodide of 
potassium is one of the substances that promote the coagulation 
of the blood. 



METHOD OF ADMINISTERING. 

liquor pot assii iodidi. 

Solution of iodide of potassium. 

Potio resolvens ex lodio, Solution de Coindet, Coindefs Solution. 

R. Potassii iodidi, gr. xxxvj. 
Aqua destillat, f.3j. Solve. 

Dose. — Same as that of the tincture of iodine. 

Coindet and Magendie. 

R. Potassii iodidi, 3j. 

Aquas destillat. f.Jj. Solve. 

Dose. — Fifteen drops three times a day, gradually increased 
to forty-five: in cases of ovarian dropsy, — frictions with iodine 
ointment being used at the same time. Elliotson. 

Liquor potassii iodidi compositus. 
Compound solution of iodide of potassium. 

(LugoPs Solution.) 

R. Iodin. 9j. 

Potassii iodid. ^ij. 

Aq. destillat. f-3 vij. Solve. 

Dr. BacheJ remarks, that "in the original it is seven ounces, but 
from the context of the author, this is evidently a misprint for seven 

* Dublin Journal of Medical Science, July, 1840, and Jan. 1841. 

| Lemons sur le Sang ; and Translation in Lancet, for Jan. 26, 1839, p. 636. 

% Dispensatory of the United States, 4th edit. p. 374, Philad. 1839. 



POTASSII IODIDUM. 503 

drachms." It is proper, however, to observe, that many of the 
successful cases were treated by the weaker solution. 

Dose. — Six drops early in the morning, and in the middle of 
the day, in a glass of sugared water. In tetter, scirrhus, &c. 

Lugol. 

Lugol has a solution of three strengths for internal use : 



I. 


II. 


III. 


Iodin. gr. f 


gr- i- 


gr. U. 


Potass, iodid. gr. iss. 


gr. ii. 


gr. iiss. 


Aq. destillat. f.^viij. 


f.^viij. 


f.gviij. 



Dose. — Two-thirds, daily, at first ; afterwards, the whole. 

Lugol recommends this threefold solution in the same cases as 
his threefold solution of iodine ; the first being continued from 
fourteen days to three weeks ; the second, from the fourth or fifth 
week of the treatment to its termination ; the third, the strongest, 
he did not often use. As Riecke has observed, it would be better 
to have in the hospitals but one solution, which might be pre- 
scribed in varied doses. 

R. Iodin. gr. v. 

Potass, iodid. gr. x. 
Aquas destillat. f.^xx. M. 

Dose. — f.^ij. to f.5vj. London Pharmacopoeia. 

liquor iodini compositus. 

Compound solution of iodine. 

(LtigoPs Solution.) 

R. Iodin. 3vj. 

Potass, iodid. giss. 
Aqua: destillat. Oj. 
Dissolve the iodine and iodide of potassium in the wate 

Dose. — Ten to twenty drops, three times a day. 

Pharm. United States. 



504 POTASSII IODIDUM. 

Tinctura iodini composita. 
Compound tincture of iodine. 

R. Iodin. gj. 

Potass, iodid. §ij. 
Alcohol. Oij. M. 

Dose. — Ten minims. 

Lond. and United States Pharmacopoeia. 

Mistttra potassii iodidi compositus. 

Compound mixture of iodide of potassium. 

R. Iodin. gr. ss. 

Potass, iodid. 3ss. 
Syrup, papav. f.sjss. 
Aq. destillat. Oss. 

Dose. — Two table-spoonfuls, three times a day ; in cases of 
complication of syphilis with scrophida. Tyrrel. 

R. Iodin. gr. iss. 

Potassii iodid. gr. iij. 
Solve in 

Aquae menth. pip. f.§iv. 

Dose. — A spoonful two or three times a day. To children, a 
tea-spoonful. In cases of cancrum oris ; also, in dropsy, gleet, 
and leucorrhoea. On renewing the prescription, the dose of the 
iodine may be increased one-half, and of the iodide one grain, 
each time. Coster and Friedrich. 

R. Potass, iodid. Jiv. 

Aquae lactucee, f.3 viij. 

menth. pip. f.3ij- 

Syrup, althaeee, f.§j. 

Dose. — A spoonful, morning and evening, in a little water, in- 
creasing the dose to two spoonfuls. In cases of hypertrophy of 
the ventricles of the heart. Magendie. 



POTASSII IODIDUM. 505 

R. Potass, iodid. $iv. 
Aq. lactuc. f.Iviij. 

flor. naph. f.Jij. 

Tinct. digit, figj. ad f.Jij. 
Syr. althaea, f.giss. M. 

Dose. — Morning and evening, a spoonful, in a little water. 
In hypertrophy of the ventricles of the heart, with quickening of 
the heart's action. Magendie. 

R. Quassiae, 

Gentian, aa. Jj. 

Aquae bullient. f.^xvj. 
Macera per horam et cola. 
Liquor colat. add. 

Potass, iodid. gr. xxxvj. 

carbonat. Jij. M. 

Dose. — A table-spoonful, three times a day, in a glass of 
water. dimming. 

Pilnlae potassii iodidi. 

Pills of iodide of potassium. 

R. Potass, iodid. gr. xv. 
Aq. destillat. q. s. 
Spong. ust. 

Ext. dulcamar. aa. Jij. 
Glycyrr. rad. pulv. q. s. 
Fiant pilulae clxxx. 

Dose. — Six, two or three times a day, in scrophula, goitre, 
&c. Vogt. 

I ii •: ii i' n t ii 111 iodini compositum. 

Compound ointment of iodine. — loduretted ointment. 

R. Iodin. 588. 

Potass, iodid. 5J- 
Alcohol. f,5CJ. 
Adipis. 3 i j . 
Rub the iodine and iodide with the alcohol, and mix with the lard. 

Pharm. Lond. and United States. 
43 



506 POTASSII IODIDUM. 

Unguentum potassii iodidi, 

Ointment of iodide of potassium. 

R. Potass, iodid. ^ss. 
Adipis, §iss. M. 

Haifa dram at first, and subsequently, a whole dram to be 
rubbed in. In goitre, scrophnlous glandular affections, &c. 

This ointment is generally too weak, unless combined with 
the internal use of iodine in some form. Magendie. 

R. Potass, iodid. 9j. 
Adipis, 3ss. M. 

The wounded parts to be smeared with it two or three times 
a day: in moist tetter — serpigo. Between the applications, to 
be dressed with dry lint. Tunnermann. 

In dry tetter, the ointment applied is formed of 5j- to 3iss. of 
iodide to Jj. of lard. 

Unguentum potassii iodidi. 

Ointment ofhydriodic kali. — Ointment of iodide of potassium. 

(Unguentum kali hydroiodici. Pharmacop. Borussic.) 

R. Potass, iodid. 3j. 
Magnes. carb. gr. vj. 
Aq. destillat. guttas nonnullas, 
M. terendo cum, 

Ung. rosat. 3J. M. 
Or, 

R. Potass, iodid. 

Sodae carbon, depur. sice. aa. %$$. 
Ung. rosat. 5iv. ad ^v]. M. 

A piece, of the size of a small bean, to be rubbed in, morning 
and evening. In chronic enlargement of the testis. 

Walt her. 

Messrs. T. and H. Smith,* of Edinburgh, having found it im- 
practicable to make a neat ointment of iodide of potassium by 

* Lond. and Edinb. Monthly Journ. of Med. Science, Oct. 1841. 



POTASSII IODIDUM. 507 

the ordinary method, have recommended the following : Dissolve 
the requisite quantity of iodide in its own weight of distilled or 
some perfumed water, and then mix thoroughly in a mortar 
with the proper quantity of lard. The two will incorporate per- 
fectly with a very little heating, and form a smooth ointment. 

R. Potass, iodid. Jss. 
Ext. opii. 9ss. 
Cerat. gji M. 

As a dressing to malignant cancerous ulcers. 



Unguentnm potassii iodidi compositum. 

Compound ointment of iodide of potassium. 

R. Iodin. gr. xij. 

Potass, iodid. £)iv. 
Adipis, gij. M. 

In scrophulous ophthalmia, ulcers, &c. Lugol. 

R. Iodin. gr. xv. 
Potass, iodid. 3j. 
Tinct. opii, f.^ij. 
Adipis, §ij. M. 

In painful scrophulous ulcers, white swellings, &c. 

Lugol. 

R. Potassii iodid. gr. xij. — xv. 
Ung. hydrarg. ciner. ^ss. M. 

In herpes exedens. Blasius. 

Emplastrum potassii iodidi compositum. 

Compound plaster of iodide of potassium. 

R. Iodin. 

Potass, iodid. aa. ^ss. ad 9j. 
Emplastr. hydrarg. seu 
saponis. ^'j* 

Applied in syphilitic and gouty swelli?igs of the bones. 

Ebers. 



508 POTASSII IODIDTJM. 

Linimentum potassi iodidi. 

Liniment of iodide of potassium. 

(Baume hydriodate.) 

R. Potassii iodid. §j. 

Alcohol. (20°) f.giv. M. 

R. Sapon. ex oleo animal, confect. 3*iss. 
Alcohol. (20°) f.giv. M. 

Mix these two solutions together; aromatise with a small 
quantity of oil of lavender, and before the mixture congeals, 
pour it into wide-mouthed vials.* This liniment has been 
much used at Lausanne under the name Gelee pour le goitre. 

Lotio potassii iodidi composita. 
Compound lotion of iodide of potassium. 



Solve in 



R. lodin. gr. i. ad ij. 

Potassii iodid. gr. ij. ad iv. 

Aquse destillat. f.5viij. 



This solution was commonly used by Lugol externally, to be 
injected under the eyelids in strumous ophthalmia, fistulse, &c. 

Lugol. 

R. Iodin. §ss. 

Potassii iodidi, 3j. 
Solve in 

Aq. destillat. f-o^j. 

This "rubefacient solution of iodine" may be used two or 
three times a week, when the last prescription loses its effect, or 
when it is desirable to stimulate more actively. It is also added, 
to baths — three or four ounces to any ordinary bath — as well 
as to poultices, being mixed with an ordinary cataplasm. 

Lugol. 

* F. Boudet, Journal de Pharmacie, Avril, 1842, p. 335 ; and A. Duhamel, in 
Araer. Journal of Pharmacy, July, 1842, p. 102. 



Solve in 



POTASSII HYDRARGYRO-IODIDUM. 509 

R. Iodin. gj. 

Potass, iodid. gij. 

Aquae destillat. f.gij. 



This "caustic iodine solution" may be used when the last 
.oses its efficacy. It occasions a crust on the parts. Lugol em- 
ploys it chiefly when the skin on the edges of the ulcers is 
greatly hypertrophied, red, and fungous, as well as in phagede- 
nic or spreading tetters. It may be applied two or three times 
a week, or daily, should the case require it. Lugol. 

Collyrinm pot as si i iodidi compositum. 
Compound colly 'Hum of iodide of potassium. 



Solve in 



R. Iodin. gr. ss. ad i. 
Potassi iodid. £)ss. 

Aq. rosse, f^iij. M. 



To be applied four times a day, in cases of scrophulous oph- 
thalmia, with ulceration of the conjunctiva and cornea. 

Magendie. 



CXX. POTAS'SII HYDRAR'GYRO-IO'DIDUM. 

Synonvmes. Potassii Iodo-Hydrargyras, Kali Iodatum Hydrargyratum,Iodo- 
Hydrargyrate of Potassium, Iodhydrargyrate of Ioduret of Potassium, Hy- 
drargyro-iodide of potassium, Hydrargyro-biniodide of Potassium, Di- 
hydrargyro-biniodide of Potassium. 

Dr. A. Channing,* who has highly extolled this preparation in 
various diseases, affirms, that this, with other new salts, was dis- 
covered by Bonsdorff, of the University of Finland, in 1S26; 
and it is a fact well known to the chemist, that iodine, chlorine, 
&c, enter into combinations so as to form both acids and 



By experiment, Dr. Channing ascertained, that a solution of 
eight grains of pure iodide of potassium in ten or fifteen minims 
of water, would combine with a fraction less than eleven Grains 



* American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Feb. 1834, p. 388. 
43* 



510 POTASSII HYDRARGYR0-I0DIDTJM. 

of red iodide of mercury , and maintain the combination in solu- 
tion, when diluted with water or alcohol to any extent. If more 
than eleven grains of the red iodide be added, although a small 
excess may be dissolved in the concentrated solution, on diluting 
with water, it is promptly precipitated. It would appear, therefore, 
as Dr. Charming has remarked, that in preparing this salt for ad- 
ministration, the labour of crystallising it, in order to obtain a 
solution of a definite strength, is wholly unnecessary ; inasmuch 
as a solution, combining a fraction more than eight grains of the 
iodide of potassium with eleven grains of the iodide of mercury, 
may be used as containing twenty grains of the hydrargyro- 
iodide of potassium. 

If it be desirable to obtain the preparation in a crystallised 
form, it is important, that the definite proportions of the two 
iodides should be observed, and particularly, that there be no 
excess of iodide of mercury ; for the saturated solution of eight 
grains of iodide of potassium will dissolve, and enter into com- 
bination with, more than thirteen grains of iodide of mercury, 
forming similar crystals soluble in alcohol, but in water precipi- 
tating more than two grains of iodide of mercury. 

This double salt may, also, be formed by dissolving one equiva- 
lent of bichloride or of per 'nitrate of mercury in a solution of four 
equivalents of iodide of potassium , evaporating to dryness, and 
dissolving the double iodide from the chlorohydrate or nitrate of 
potassa by means of alcohol. When made from the pernitrate 
of mercury, it is liable, however, to contain nitre, which may be 
detected by its insolubility in strong alcohol* 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

These are similar to those of the iodides of mercury, but, ac- 
cording to Dr. Channing, in a less degree. The hydrargyro- 
iodide is not, however much employed, experience seeming to 
have shown, that it possesses no essential, if, indeed, any advan- 
tages over those preparations. 

It has been highly extolled by Dr. Charles C. Hildreth,* 
of Zanesville, Ohio, in several diseases, in which a combi- 
nation of iodine and mercury might be expected to be benefi- 
cial. In ordinary dyspepsia, his faith in its remedial powers is 
so strong that he had prescribed but little else for the previous four 
or five years. He speaks highly of it, also, in enlargement of the 
spleen, amenorrhcea, dysfnenorrhcea, leucorrhoea, dropsy, and 
glandular enlargements of a scrophulous character. In these 

* Ambrose Smith, Amer. Journ. of Pharm. Jan. 1841, p. 271. 
| American Journal of the Medical Sciences, Aug. 1840, p. 314. 



POTASSII HYDRARGYRO-IODIDUM. 511 

last cases, he combines the internal use with the external, accord- 
ing to the form of ointment given below. 

Puche* has recommended it as not being so subject to produce 
salivation, or pains in the bones, as the other combinations of 
mercury and iodine. 



METHOD OP ADMINISTERING. 

Mistura pot assii kydrargyro-iodidi. 

Mixture of hydrar gyro-iodide of potassium. 

R. Hydrarg. iodid. rubr. gr. iv. 
Potassii iodid. £)j. 
Aquse destillat. f.^j. M. 

Dose. — Five drops, three times a day . Channing. 

R. Hydrargyri iodid. rubr. 
Potassii iodid. aa. gr. iv. 
Aquae, f.Ji. Solve. 

The dose of this is from two to six drops, equivalent to from 
about the thirteenth to the twelfth of a grain of the double salt.t 

Tinctura potassii hydrargyro-iodidi. 

Tincture of hydrargyro-iodide of potassium. 

R. Potass, hydrargyro-iodid. gr. j. 
Alcohol, dilut. f.3j. M. 

Dose. — Ten drops, three times a day. Channing. 

Pilulac potassii hydrargyro-iodidi. 
Pills of hydrargyro-iodide of potassium. 

R. Hydrarg. iodid. rubr. gr. viij. 
Potassii iodid. gr. viij. 
JSacchar. lact. gr. lxiv. 
Mucil. acac. q, s. ut fiant piluloe xxxij. 

Dose. — One to eight, daily. Puche. 

♦Journal des Connaissances Mcdicales, Oct. et Nov. 1838, and Janvier, 
1839 ; and Annales de Chimie, Oct. 1838. 
f Ambrose Smith, Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy, Jan. 1841, p. 270. 



512 QUINIA. 



Liqno'r potassii hy drargyro -iodidi. 

Solution of hydrargyro-iodide ofpotassi 



inn. 



R. Hydrarg. iodid. rubr. gr. viij. 
Potassii iodid. gr. viij. 
AquEe destillat. f.3viij. M. 

Dose. — f.3ij. to f.gij. in twenty-four hours. Puche. 

Unguentum potassii liydrargyro-iodidi. 

Ointment of hydrargyro-iodide of potassium. 

R. Hydrarg. iodid. rubr. gr. vij. 
Potass, iodid. ^ij. 
Adipis ^j. M. 

To be applied to tumours, two or three times a day. Should 
it prove too irritating, the proportion of lard must be increased. 

Hildreth. 



QUINIA ET EJUS SALES. 

Synonyme. Quinia and its salts. 

CXXI. QUINIA. 

Synonymes Quinina, Quina, Quininum, Qninium, Chininum, Chininium, 

Chinium, Kininum, Sal Essentiale Corticis Peruvian!. 
French. Quinine, Kinine. 
German. Chinin, Quinin, Chinastoff. 

Quinia is a most important gift from modern analytical chemis- 
try to medicine. Not many years have elapsed since the dis- 
covery of this substance, and yet, by general consent, it is now 
regarded as one of the most valuable remedies in the catalogues 
of the materia medica. The honour of the discovery — which 
had been facilitated by the investigations of other chemists, as to 
the composition of the cinchona barks — belongs to Pelletier and 
Caventou, (1820,*) and so rapidly and extensively was its efficacy 

* Annales de Chimie et de Physique, xv. 289 and 337. 



QUINIA. 513 

promulgated, that in the year 1826, in two laboratories in Paris 
for the preparation of quinia, fifty-nine thousand ounces of the 
sulphate — the form best known, and most frequently prescribed 
— were prepared. For this discovery, the Royal Academy of 
Sciences of Paris awarded MM. Pelletier and Caventou the Mon- 
thyon prize of ten thousand francs. 

It would appear from the observations of Henry and Plisson, 
that cinchonia and quinia exist in cinchona bark in combination 
with kinic acid and also with red cinchonic, which is an insoluble 
red colouring matter.* 

Quinia is obtained from yellow bark by a similar process to 
the one described for the separation of cinchonia.t In the pure 
state, it is of a white colour, and appears commonly in the form 
of powder ; it crystallises, however, in silky, shining, tufted 
needles. In both cases, it contains from three to four per cent. 
of water. By a gentle heat, this escapes, and the quinia melts 
into a transparent fluid, which, on cooling, is translucent, and 
similar to a resin. When melted in vacuo, it has a crystalline 
appearance. In a strong heat, it is decomposed. It has a very 
bitter taste, and is soluble in 200 parts of boiling water ; a por- 
tion being precipitated on cooling. It requires a much larger 
proportion of cold water to dissolve it. In alcohol, it is far more 
soluble than in water. It is, likewise, soluble in ether, and some- 
what so in oils. It exhibits an alkaline reaction, — restoring the 
colour of reddened litmus paper, and neutralising the acids. 

The observations of Piorry and LavolleeJ and of Quevenne,§ 
show, that quinia, as well as its sulphate, passes into the urine 
of patients who use it in any considerable quantity. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Of the effects of quinia we shall speak at some length, under 
the head of sulphate of quinia with which it seems to accord 
entirely in medicinal agency. Several physicians, who have ex- 
perimented in regard to the efficacy of pure quinia and its salts, 
have found the first in no respect inferior to the last. Such was 
the experience of Niewenhuis and Elliotson, the latter of whom 
exhibited quinia in large doses — as much as five grains every 
four hours. A French physician, Blegnie,|| even gives the pre- 

* Journ. de Pharmacie, xiii. 2G9 and 3G9, and Pereira, Elem. Mat. Med. and 
Therap. ii. 1397, Lond. 1842; or Amer. edit, by Dr. Carson, Philad. 1843. 

f See page 167. 

% Gazette Mcdicale, 1836, p. 73. 

§ L'Experience, Juillet, 1838. 

|| Riecke, Die neuern Arzneirnittel, S. 118. See, also, Bally, in Magendie's 
Journal de Physiologie, ii. 23G. 



514 QUINI-E ACETAS. 

ference to pure quinia — because it possesses, he thinks, equal 
efficacy, is cheaper, easier taken, and better borne than the sul- 
phate. He advises, that after each dose an acidulous drink 
should be taken, to render its solution in the stomach more rapid. 
Wntzer* and Harlest have also recommended the more frequent 
use of pure quinia. 

It may be given either in the form of powder or pill, or in 
alcoholic solut.on. 



Tine t lira quinia?. 

Tincture of quinia. 

R. Quinia?, 3j. 
Solve in 

Alcohol. f.Sss. 



Dose. — Twenty to forty drops every two hours. 



Wutzer. 



CXXII. QUI'NLE ACE'TAS. 

Synonymes. Quinina? acetas, Chinium Aceticum, Chininum Aceticum, Acetas 
Chinii, Acetas Chinini, Acetas Chinicus seu Quinicus, A. Quinia?., A. 
Quiixe, A. Quinini, A. Quinii, A. Kinini, Quina Acetica, Acetate of Quinia 
or Quinine. 

French. Acetate de Quinine. 

German. Essigsaures Chinin. 

This preparation is not much employed. It is prepared by 
saturating quinia with concentrated acetic acid diluted with 
water, and evaporating the neutral solution, by gentle heat, to 
crystallisation. 

It appears in the form of very delicate, needle-shaped, snow- 
white, satiny, and shining crystals ; tastes very bitter ; and is 
with difficulty soluble in cold water, but readily so in hot. 

Wutzer and SundelinJ assert, that it acts like the other 
of quinia, but merits no preference. 

* Isis,p. 441, 1829. 

t Heidelberg klinisch. Annalen, B. v. H. 4, S. 573. 

t Isis, p. 441, 1829 ; also, Heidelb. klinisch. Annal. B. v. H. 4. 575. 



QUINIiE CITRAS. 515 



CXXIII. QUI'NI^ CITRAS. 

Synonymes. Quininae Citras, Quinini Citras, Quinize vel Quinaevel Quinii 
vel Chinini vel Kinini Citras, Citras Chinii seu Chinicus seu Quinicus, 
Chinium Citricum, Chininum Citricum, Quina Citrica, Citrate of Quinia 
or Quinine. 

French. Citrate de Quinine. 

German. Zitronsaures Chinin, Citronsaures Chinin. 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

This preparation is formed, like the acetate, from an aqueous 
solution of citric acid, and pure quinia ; or by the decomposition 
of a hot solution of sulphate of quinia, by means of an acid 
citrate of soda.* 

It forms needle-shaped prisms, of a white colour, which are 
by no means readily soluble in water. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The acetate and the citrate of quinia have been highly esteem- 
ed ; and are adapted for those excitable persons with whom the 
sulphate does not seem to agree. The citrate has been prescribed 
by many Italian- physicians, and found to be very efficacious.! 
Magendie considers it, when it contains an excess of acid, advisa- 
ble for those cases, where the union of a tonic with an antiseptic 
property is indicated. He considers, that the following syrup 
may be substituted, in certain cases, for the syrupus antiscorbu- 
ticus, which is directed by the Codex Medicament arius of Paris 
to be prepared in the following manner: — Take of the fresh 
leaves of cochlearia, ivater trefoil, cress, horseradish, and bitter 
oranges, cut, of each one pound; cinnamon, an ounce and a 
half, white wine, four pints. Macerate for two days in a tin 
cucurbit, covered with a well luted capital. Distil, in a sand- 
bath, a pint of fluid ; to which add two pounds of white sugar, 
and make into a syrup. Pass through a cloth, without straining, 
what remains in the cucurbit; let the liquor rest; decant and 
boil to the consistence of syrup, with two pounds of white sugar. 
When cold, clarify and mix with the other. 

* Guleani, in Annali Universali di Medicina, Luglrrj, 1832, and Heidelb. 
Klinish. Annal. B. x. If. i. 8.34. Heidelb. 1831. 
f Beraudi, in Bulletin General de Therapeutitjue. Nov. 1838. 



516 QTJINI.E FERROCYANURETUM. 

Syrnpus quiniae citratis. 

Syrup of citrate ofquinia. 

R. Syrup. Oi. 

Quiniae acetat. acid. gr. xxxvj. M. 

Dose. — Two spoonfuls, in the twenty-four hours. 



CXXIV. QUI'NIiE FERROCYANURETUM. 

Synonymes. QuininseFerrocyanas, Chinium Ferrocyanogenatum, Ch.Ferro- 
hydrocyanicum, Ferrocyanas Chinii, &c, Ferrocyanate or Hydrocyanofer- 
rate of Quinia or Quinine. 

French. Ferrocyanure de Quinine. 

German. Eisenblaures Chinin. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

This is obtained by the decomposition of sulphate of quinia 
by means of a solution of the ferrocyannret of potassium ; after 
which the impure salt is treated with warm alcohol, and the 
clear solution is evaporated.* 

It forms needle-shaped, confused crystals, of a greenish-yellow 
colour, and very bitter taste, recalling that of hydrocyanic acid. 
It dissolves readily in spirit of wine, not so in water ; and is 
decomposed by hot water. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

In this combination, the antifebrile properties of the quinia are 
said to be even superior to those of the other preparations ; yet 
the remedy has not got into much use. It has been employed 
mainly by a few of the French practitioners. Ceriolit and Zac- 
charelli, Italian physicians, speak in high terms of its efficacy in 
periodical diseases, even where the sulphate has failed. Cerioli 

* See Bertozzi's Method, in Journal de Pharmacie, xix. 45, and Philad. 
Journ. of Pharmacy, vol. 2, new series, p. 82. Philad. 1837. See, also, Mr. 
Donovan, in Dublin Journ. of Med. Sciences, July, 1840, p. 440. 

f Annali Universali di Medicina, Luglio, 1832, and Archives Generales de 
Medecine, Dec. 1832. 



QTjINI-E MURIAS. 517 

gave it in the dose of from two to eight grains, in the day; and 
G-ouzee* gives the history of three cases completely cured by 
the administration of a single grain, half an hour before the 
paroxysm. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The following formulae have been recommended : 

Haustus quiniffi ferrocyanureti. 

Draught offerrocyanuret of quinia. 

R. Quinise ferrocyanur. gr. iv. 
Alcohol. f.Jj. 
Solve et adde 

Aquae camphor, f . 5 v i j . M. 
et fiat haustus. 

To be taken as occasion may require, first shaking the vial. 

Donovan.^ 

PilulflB quiniaB ferrocyanureti. 

Pills of ferrocyanur et of quinia. 

R. Quinise ferrocyanur. gr. xxiv. 
Mucilag. acacis, q. s. 
flat massa in pilulas xij. dividenda. 

Two for a dose. Donovan. 



CXXV. QUI'NIiE MU'RIAS. 

Synonymks. Quinina; Murias, Chinium Muriaticum, Ch. Salitum seu Hydro- 
chloricurn, Ilydrochloras seu Murias Chiiiii, H. Chinicus seu Quinicus, 
(Jhlorhydras Quinicus, Muriate of Quinia or Quinine. 

French. Muriate de Quinine. 

German. SalzsaoreB Cliinin, Hydroclilorsaures Chinin. 

Perhaps, next to sulphate of quinia, this salt has most fre- 
quently been employed in practice. 

* Observateur Medical Beige, Jan. 1834. 
f Op. citat. 
44 



518 QUINIJE NITRAS. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

It is obtained by dissolving pure quinia in dilute muriatic acid, 
or by the decomposition of sulphate of quinia dissolved in ivarm 
water, by means of a solution of chloride of barium, which is 
added so long as a white precipitate is thrown down ; the hot 
mixture is then filtered ; the precipitate is washed, and the clear 
fluid evaporated, by a gentle heat, to crystallisation, so long as 
crystals shoot on cooling; these are collected, washed in cold 
water, and purified by repeated crystallisation. 

It forms fine, needle-shaped, white silky crystals, of a mother- 
of-pearl lustre ; does not dissolve readily in water, but more so 
than the sulphate. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

In this respect, the muriate agrees with the sulphate of quinia, 
and by those of weak digestive powers is borne better. Spiel- 
man* asserts, that it is a more speedy and effectual remedy for 
intermittent fever than the sulphate, and it is more soluble. It 
is, however, more expensive. The dose is generally considered 
to be the same as that of the sulphate. It is better given in solu- 
tion than in powder. Spielman rates the dose at from half a 
grain to a grain. 



CXXVI. QUI'NLE NITRAS. 

Synonymes. Quininae Nitras, Chinium seu Chininum Nitricum, Nitras 

Chinii, &c. Nitrate of Quinia or Quinine. 
French. Nitrate de Quinine. 
German. Saltpetresaures Chinin. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

This salt is obtained like the muriate, by the addition of nitric 
acid to quinia ; or by the decomposition of nitrate of baryta by 
sulphate of quinia. 

It is, at first, a fluid oil-like mass, which gradually becomes 

* Allgemein. medicinisch. Zeitung, and Journal des Connais. Medic. Fev- 
rier, 1836 : see, also, Prof. Dierbach, in Heidelb. klinish. Annal. B. x. H. i. S. 
33. Heidelb. 1834. 



QUINLE SULPHAS. 519 

solid. In union with water it forms crystals. It dissolves with 
difficulty in water, but readily in alcohol. 



CXXVII. QUI'NIJE PHOSPHAS. 

Synonymes. Qninins Phosphas, Chinium seu Chininum Phosphoricum, 

Phosphas Chinii, Ph. Cbinini, Phosphate of Quinia or Quinine. 
French. Phosphate de Quinine. 
German. Phosphorsaures Chinin. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

In mode of preparation, it accords with the preceding forms ; 
dilute phosphoric acid being added to quinia, or phosphate of 
baryta to sulphate of quinia .* 

It appears in the form of needle-shaped prisms, of a mother-of- 
pearl lustre, which are, like the muriate of quinia, readily solu- 
ble in water, and spirit of wine. Harles,t however, affirms, that 
in the neutral condition it dissolves, with difficulty, in water. 

The phosphate is regarded by some to stand next to the sul- 
phate in medicinal efficacy. 






CXXVIII. QUI'NIJE SULPHAS. 

Synonymes. Quininae Sulphas, Quince Disulphas, Q. Sulphas, Chinium seu 
Chininum Sulphuricum, Sulphas Chinii, Sulphas Quinicus, Sulphate of 
Quinia or Quinine. 

French. Sulfate de Quinine. 

German. Schwfelsaures Chinin, Chininsulphat. 

This preparation of quinia is by far the most frequently ad- 
ministered. It is in fine, silky, flexible needles, and at times in 
rectangular columns. Its taste is extremely bitter, and resem- 
bles that of yellow bark. Exposed to a moderate heat, it loses 
its crystalline form, in consequence of the escape of its water 

* Winkler, in Biichner's Itepert. and Phila. Journ. of Pharmacy, new series, 
vol. 2, p. 12. Phila. 1837. 

f Heidelb. klinisch. Annal. B. x. H.i. S. 36. Heidelb. 1831 ; and Journal 
de Chimie Medicale, 1837. 



520 QUININE SULPHAS. 

of crystallization. It is only slightly soluble in cold water, 
requiring 740 parts at the ordinary temperature, and 30 
parts of boiling water for its solution. In alcohol, it is very 
soluble, but only slightly so in ether. With sulphuric acid, it 
forms a supersulphate, which is much more soluble in water 
than the neutral salt, and hence we usually add a few drops of 
dilute sulphuric acid to our mixtures of sulphate of quinia. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

This salt is generally prepared on a large scale in the chemi- 
chal laboratories of France; whence we obtain it. A formula 
was admitted, however, into the Pharmacopoeia of the United 
States (1830), which was taken from the process of M. Henry, 
Junr.,* for which he received a prize from the Academic Royale 
des Sciences, of Paris. It is as follows : — Take of Yellow bark, 
in powder, a pound ; Lime, in powder, four ounces ; Sulphuric 
acid, Alcohol, Animal charcoal, Distilled water, each a sufficient 
quantity. Boil the bark for half an hour with eight pints of the 
distilled' water, acidulated with a fluid ounce of the sulphuric 
acid. Strain the decoction through linen : then boil the residue 
with the same quantity of acidulated water, and filter as before. 
Mix the filtered liquors, and, gradually add the lime, stirring 
constantly. Wash the precipitate with distilled water, and hav- 
ing dried it digest in alcohol with a moderate heat. Pour off 
the tincture, and repeat the digestion several times, till the alco- 
hol is no longer rendered bitter. Mix the tincture, and distil 
over the alcohol, till a brown viscid liquid remains in the retort. 
Upon this substance, removed from the retort, pour as much 
sulphuric acid, largely diluted with water, as may be sufficient 
for its perfect saturation. Then add the animal charcoal, and 
having evaporated the liquor sufficiently, filter while hot, and 
set it aside to crystallise. 

In the last edition (1842), the form has been modified as fol- 
lows : — Take of Yellow bark, in coarse powder, fhiv. ; Muriatic 
acid, f.ghj.; Lime, in powder, 5v. ; Water, five gallons; Sul- 
phuric acid) Alcohol, Animal charcoal, each a sufficient quan- 
tity. Boil the bark in one-third of the water mixed with one- 
third of the muriatic acid, and strain through linen. Boil the resi- 
due twice successively with the same quantity of water and 
acid as before, and strain. Mix the decoction, and, while the 
liquor is hot, gradually add the lime, previously mixed with two 
pints of water, stirring constantly, until the quinia is completely 
precipitated. Wash the precipitate with distilled water, and, 

* Journal de Pharraacie, vii. 296. Juillet, 1821. 






QUINI-E SULPHAS. 521 

having pressed and dried it, digest it in boiling alcohol. Pour 
off the liquor, and repeat the digestion several times, until the al- 
cohol is no longer rendered bitter. Mix the liquors, and distil off 
the alcohol, until a brown viscid mass remains. Upon this sub- 
stance, removed from the vessel, pour about half a gallon of dis- 
tilled water, and, having heated the mixture to the boiling point, 
add as much sulphuric acid as maybe necessary to dissolve the 
impure alkali. Then add an ounce and a half of animal char- 
coal, boil for two minutes, filter the liquor while hot, and set it 
aside to crystallize. Should the liquor, before filtration, be en- 
tirely neutral, acidulate it very slightly with sulphuric acid; 
should it, on the contrary, change the colour of litmus paper to a 
bright red, add more animal charcoal. Separate the crystals 
from the liquor, dissolve them in boiling water slightly acidu- 
lated with sulphuric acid; add a little animal charcoal, filter and 
set aside to crystallize; wrap the crystals in a bibulous paper, 
and dry them with a gentle heat. The mother water may be 
made to yield an additional quantity of sulphate of quinia by 
precipitating the quinia with solution of ammonia, and treat- 
ing the precipitated alkali with water, sulphuric acid, and ani- 
mal charcoal as before.* 

It results from the calculations of Pelletier and Caventou, that 
from a quintal of cinchona, two pounds, one dram and thirty 
grains of sulphate of quinia may be obtained, which makes two 
drams, sixty-six grains and a sixth per pound, or thirteen grains 
and two-sixths per ounce; and as the sulphate is composed of 
nine parts and nine-tenths of sulphuric acid to ninety and a tenth 
of quinia, it follows that if the dose of cinchona in substance be 
two drams, we should administer to the patient three grains and 
nine thirty secondths of a grain of sulphate of quinia ; not taking 
into account a small quantity of sulphate of cinchonia, which 
maybe mixed with it. Four grains of the salt are, consequently, 
more than an equivalent for the dose of the cinchona often pre- 
scribed in substance. Those practitioners, therefore, who pre- 
scribe thirty-:^ix or seventy-two grains of the sulphate, give the 
representative of about twenty-seven drains of cinchona in the 
former case, and of fifty-four in the latter.t 

Sulphate of quinia is liable to be adulterated, — for example, 
by mannite, which is similar in external appearance, but — as 
elsewhere shown — destitute of all its properties. The adul- 
teration can be readily detected by means of pure alcohol, which 
dissolves the quinia alone, but leaves the mannite untouched, 
which is freely soluble in water, and is known by its character- 
istic sweet taste. It is also adulterated with gypsum, the pre- 

♦ Pharm. of the United Stains, p. 174, Phila. 1842. 
| Jourdan, Plr.irmacopee Universelle, ii. 375. Paris, 1828, 
44* 



522 QUINIA SULPHAS. 

sence of which may likewise be detected by the alcohol, which 
does not dissolve it.* 

The quantity of sulphate of quinia prepared is very great. 
In this country, it was formerly obtained altogether from France, 
but the Author has been informed, that from 6000 to S000 ounces 
are annually made by one firm in the city of Philadelphia.! 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The effects of the preparations of quinia on the healthy organ- 
ism have not been much investigated. According to Caventou, 
they produce a general excitement, similar to that caused by 
coffee, and Wittmann affirms, that the sulphate induces an ex- 
citement similar to that of a paroxysm of fever. Hirschel.i too, 
asserts, that in a child, four years of age, to whom the sulphate 
was given in a case of intermittent, a general chilliness of some 
minutes' duration supervened immediately on taking the remedy, 
succeeded, in the course of half an hour, by general heat, and 
this again by a gentle perspiration, in all respects resembling a 
mild attack of fever. 

The excitant action of the salts of quinia formed by the vege- 
table acids is said to be less striking. 

Sulphate of quinia, in large doses, appears, in some cases, to 
possess narcotic properties, yet it can scarcely be classed amongst 
poisons, as it has been given to healthy individuals in very large 
doses, without any unpleasant effects. Bally,§ for instance, gave 
u to the extent of 110 grains in the day without any inconveni- 
ence. Dr. Thomas Fearn,|| who administered it largely, regards 
it to be more narcotic than sedative, — usually, he thinks, stimu- 
lating in small doses, but in large doses the stimulant effects not 
being obvious, but rather the reverse ; and such appears to be the 
view of Dr. A. Flint.! 

When Mr. Scott,** a medical gentleman and a martyr to dys- 
pepsia, took quinia in very large doses, under the idea that his 
malady was intermittent neuralgia, he found several singular 
phenomena induced thereby. He was directed to commence 
with two grains three times a day, until he arrived at twenty 

* Vallet and Dubail, Journal de Pharmacie, Janvier, 1840. 

f See his General Therapeutics and Materia Medica, vol. 2, p. 80, Philad. 
1843. 

X Hufeland's Journal. B. lxi. St. 6. S. 140. 

§ Revue Medicale, v. 244. Juillet, 1821. 

|| Transylvania Journal of Medicine, Oct., Nov., and Dec. 1836, p. 798, and 
Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intell. June 15, 1837, p. 109. 

% Amer. Journ. of Medical Sciences, Oct. 1841, p. 277. 

** Lond. Med. and Physical Journal, March, 1833. 



QUINI-E SULPHAS. 523 

grains for a dose, that is, a dram a day. Until the doses were 
increased to fourteen or sixteen grains, he did not experience 
any peculiar effects, but he now began to feel heat of skin, dry- 
ness of mouth and fauces, and obstinate constipation. He like- 
wise lost the power of naming substantives ; was obliged for a 
long while to consider what familiar things were called, and 
was unable to cast up a line of six or eight figures correctly. 
His perceptions of quantity were likewise impaired, so that in 
prescriptions he wrote ounces for drams, drams for grains, &c, 
&c. He still, however, persevered with the quinia, until he took 
9j. four times a day, but he was unable to continue these exces- 
sive doses long, the untoward symptoms augmenting, so that he 
was often unable to stand, and fell several times in the street. 

Very similar results to those observed by Mr. Scott, and espe- 
cially as regards the inability of utterance — which, in their 
cases, was complete — are recorded by M. Menage,* and Mr. 
G. 0. Heming.t 

Cases of deafness caused by large doses have been lately de- 
tailed by Dr. Joseph Williams, of London,t by Mr. C. R. Bree,§ 
of Stow-market, England ; by M. Fr. Lugeol, of Havana,|| and 
by Prof. Giacomoni.lT 

MM. Trousseau and Pidoux** refer to the case of a soldier 
who took 48 grains of the sulphate for the cure of spasmodic 
asthma, which returned daily at a certain hour. Four hours 
after taking it, he experienced buzzing in the ears, diminished 
sensibility, giddiness, and violent vomiting. Seven hours after 
taking it, he was blind and deaf, delirious, incapable of walking 
by reason of the giddiness, and vomited bile copiously. He 
was, in fact, in a state of intoxication. The symptoms gradually 
subsided. 

In impressible individuals, the sulphate and the muriate — 
even in moderate doses — not unfrequently induce a sense of 
anxiety, restlessness, vertigo, confusion, depravation of vision, 
tinnitus aurium, and, in many cases, transient deafness, all which 
symptoms appear to be of a neuropathic character, and, it has 
been affirmed, occur more frequently in females, especially in 
those who are pregnant or suckling — and in persons of slender 
and delicate conformation.tt In certain cases, quinia and its 



* Gazette Medicale de Paris, April 25, 1840. 

f London Lancet, and Philad. IVled. Examiner, July 18, 1840, p. 468. 
J London Lancet, July 25, 1840, p. 639. 
§ Ibid. Aug. 22, 1810, p. 786. 
|| Bullet. Gen. de Thcrap. Mars, 1842. 

If Annali di Medicin. Feb. 1841, and Journal de Pharmacie, Sept. 1842, 
p. 209. 

* Traitc de Therapeutique, ii. 217. 

f| Riecke, Die neuern Arzueimittel, S. 120. 



524 QUINI.32 SULPHAS. 

salts seem to have caused ptyalism — the saliva being inodorous, 
and the teeth firm ; and, when calomel has been given along 
with it, it has been conceived that ptyalism has ensued sooner 
than it otherwise might have done. 

Recently, a question has been raised as to the ultimate inno- 
cuousness of large doses of the sulphate ; and cases have been 
referred to in which fatal or serious results supervened in acute 
and chronic rheumatism, and in amaurosis from 70 or SO grain 
doses in the practice of some of the physicians of Paris.* 

The most striking agency of quinia and its salts, is in cases of 
periodical diseases of all kinds ; and especially in intermittent 
fever ; they have now, indeed almost wholly taken the place of 
the cinchona, over which they possess many points of preference. 
In the first place, their bulk is much less ; they therefore do not 
oppress the stomach so much, whilst the impression of the cin- 
chona on*that organ not unfrequently interferes with its anti- 
pyretic properties. In malignant fevers, too, it is often impos- 
sible to introduce the requisite quantity of cinchona, into the 
organism, to prevent the succeeding paroxysm, and the life of 
the patient is consequently placed in the greatest danger. In 
this case, sulphate of quinia is invaluable ; possessing as it does, 
the febrifuge virtues of cinchona in such a concentrated state, 
that but a small quantity is required to produce equal efficacy 
with a large quantity of powdered cinchona. In such cases, 
indeed, the latter is apt to disagree with, or be rejected by the 
stomach, before its full influence can be exerted. In these per- 
nicious fevers, that occur especially in Italy and Holland, sul- 
phate of quinia has supported life in innumerable cases where 
cinchona, in substance, might have failed, and has thereby best 
exhibited its sanative agency. t In these cases, quinia is admi- 
nistered without regard to complications, which, in less urgent 
cases, might be allowed to interfere with its administration. 
Another advantage, ascribed to quinia, is, that in cases of parox- 
ysmal fevers, in which the attacks follow each other so closely, 
that the second commences before the first has terminated, it 
may be given during the paroxysm, a time at which cinchona 
would be apt to occasion oppression of the stomach and vomiting. 
It has likewise been found advantageous in large doses — twelve 
to thirty grains and more daily — in engorgement of the spleen^ 
consequent on intermittent fever ;J and M. Levy§ has seen the 

* Philad. Med. Examiner, Feb. 4, 1843, p. 24. 

f Repertorio Medico-Chirurgic. por 1'anno 1822, Torino. No. 22. Med. 
Chirurg. Zeitung. B. ii. IS. 137, 1823 ; and Richter's Specielle Therapie, B. x. 
S. 326, Berlin, 1828. 

% For the opinions of MM. Bally, Nonat, and Piorry, on this subject, see 
Medico-Chirurg. Rev. July, 1840, from La Lanjette Franjaise. 

§ Op. cit. 



QUINIA SULPHAS. 525 

dropsical effusions, that notunfrequently supervene on neglected 
cases of the same disease, yield readily to the sulphate in full 
doses.* 

Recently its use has been recommended in asthma by Dr. B. 
R. Hogan.t He gave it in doses of from two to eight grains, 
repeated in an hour, if relief should not follow. He also affirms, 
that in the forming stage of croup, in the case of a child, two 
years old, two grains of sulphate of quinia, and a snuff plaster 
on the chest warded off the attack. In the typhoid fever of 
children it was found serviceable by MM. Rilliet and Barthez.J 
Trials of the remedy have likewise been made at the Hopital 
Cochin in Paris by M. Blache, in the typhoid fever of adults, 
the results of which were favourable. The cases, however, 
were not numerous, and in certain of them other remedies were 
prescribed either before or in conjunction with the sulphate of 
quinia. Afterwards, some of the patients of M. Husson, at the 
same hospital, were subjected to the same mode of treatment, 
and the results have been published by M. Laurent.§ The dose 
of the medicine usually prescribed was three-quarters of a grain 
every hour; at times, the dose was larger, and given less frequent- 
ly; and, in several instances, two drams and more were given 
in the twenty-four hours for several days together. in thir- 
teen cases no other remedy was administered, but although the 
patients recovered, the results did not show any great superiority 
over other modes of management. In no instance were the 
phenomena arrested by the quinia. Of ten patients, who had 
the disease mildly, all recovered but one, whose death was. attri- 
buted by M. Laurent to the quinia. Of three patients labouring 
under the disease in a severe form, one only recovered ; and he 
was for a time in great danger from intestinal hemorrhage. 
The report of M. Laurent is not very favourable to the bene- 
ficial effects of quinia in typhoid fever. 

Besides their febrifuge property, the salts of quinia possess a 
tonic virtue, that adapts them for numerous cases in which that 
class of remedies is indicated. Yet there are many who think 
that cinchona is better calculated for such cases than quinia, and 
who administer the latter to prevent the paroxysms of an inter- 
mittent, but have recourse to cinchona, when they are desirous 
of fortifying the system to prevent a relapse. There are cases, 
too, which resist quinia, and its preparations, and which subse- 

* Bulletin General de Therapeutique, Nov. 30, 1837, and M. Levy, Gazette 
Med. No. xxii. and Encyclographie dea Sciences Medicales, Juillet, 1840, 
p. 287. 

| Dunfrlison's Amcr. Mod. Intelligencer, Feb. 1842, p. 153. 

£ Archiv. General de Med. Juin, 1841, or Enoyclo<rr. des Sciences Med. 
Juillet, 1811, p. 89. 

§ Archiv. General de Med. Sept. 1842, and Brit, and For. Med. Review, 
Jan. 1813, p. 235. 



526 QUINIJE SULPHAS. 

quently yield to cinchona in substance, but this may be owing 
to the quantity of lignin, or woody matter in the bark in sub- 
stance, aiding the quinia of the cinchona in producing that new 
impression on the nerves of the stomach, which is necessary to 
break in upon the paroxysmal catenation. 

In its antiseptic virtues, also, sulphate of quinia is inferior to 
cinchona. It has been doubted, indeed, whether it possess any 
such virtues at all. 

Lastly : there is an advantage possessed by sulphate of quinia, 
— that in irritable or impressible persons, it may be exhibited 
endermically, and thus no disorder be induced in the digestive 
actions. It need scarcely be said, that cinchona is not adapted 
for this mode of administration. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Sulphate of quinia may be administered internally in the form 
of powder or pill, and in solution in water, alcohol, or syrup. 
The average dose, in the twenty-four hours of apyrexia, is from 

four to ten graifas; vet il has been given frequently to a much 

greater extent. As in the case of cinchona, it has also been ad- 
vised, that a large dose should be given immediately before the 
expected paroxysm, so as to render the frequent administration 
during the apyrexia unnecessary : this dose need not be so great 
as the combined doses would amount to, so that there may be 
economy in the plan. Dupasquier, Elliotson,* the Author, and 
many others, have found this course eminently successful ; but 
some object to it. 

In ordinary intermittents, the Author is in the habit of adminis- 
tering the sulphate in the form of the mistura qiiinim sulphatis, 
given hereafter. As the antispasmodic virtues of the remedy are 
exerted through the nervous system, he considers it advisable to 
impress not only the nerves of the stomach but those of gestation, 
which cannot be effected by the pilular form. Half the mixture 
— or five grains of the sulphate — is given about an hour before 
the paroxysm, and the remainder half an hour afterwards : and 
if signs of the paroxysm appear notwithstanding, he directs 50 
or 60 drops of the tincture of opium to be given. This course 
rarely fails.t 

A case of severe remittent has been detailed by Dr. Thomas 
Fearn.t in which he gave, at one dose, three tea-spoonfuls — 
weighing thirty- two grains. At the end of an hour, there was 



* Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, xii. 543, Lond. 1824. 

t See the Author's Practice of Medicine, ii. 436. Philad. 1842. 

X Op. cit. 



QUINIJE SULPHAS. 527 

a diminution in the frequency of the pulse — " the invariable ef- 
fect," he says, " of large doses of quinia, when its operation is 
favourable." The dose was repeated, and at the end of another 
hour, it was again given, making ninety-six grains in two hours. 
Dr. Fearn remarks, that his usual practice in remittent fever had 
been to give three doses of twenty grains each, with an interval 
of an hour between. 

Of late, it has been the practice, with some physicians, to ad- 
minister sulphate of quinia in very large dose — gr. xx. to gr. xl. 
— inordinary intermittent fever;* and there may be cases in which 
after the disease has resisted ordinary doses it may yield to these; 
but the Author has not met with any such. It has been re- 
cently affirmed, indeed, that M. Piorry, who was formerly an 
advocate for large doses of the sulphate in intermittents, now 
affirms, that he obtains the same results from doses of 15 grains, 
as he did from those of 70 and 90.t 

Generally, between the paroxysms, several doses are adminis- 
tered ; and, according to the particular case, the efficacy of the 
salt of quinia is attempted to be increased by the addition of an- 
timonials, laxatives, carminatives, &c, and — in pernicious or 
malignant intermittents especially — of opium or morphia. 

Recently, much attention has been directed at New Orleans to 
the treatment of yellow fever by very large doses of sulphate of 
quinia — from a scruple to a "dram — and it is said that great 
success has attended its administration in the practice of Drs. 
Hunt, Beattie, Farrel, Mackay, and others.J 

By many, a combination of quinia with moderate doses of 
cinchona is highly recommended. Chapman advises its union 
with piperin : a combination with the alcoholic extract of cin- 
chona has also been prescribed. 

Mr. Sherwin,§ of Hull, affirms, that a piece of apple, chewed 
for a moment, immediately annihilates the bitter taste left by it. 
Sulphate of quinia may be used in the way of enema, and 
endermically, when the condition of the stomach forbids its in- 
ternal employment. As an enema, three times the ordinary 
dose, or more, may be mixed with starch, and be thrown up a 
short time before the paroxysm, or at the inception of the same. 
In this way it has been found efficacious.|| 

In administering the sulphate, or muriate of quinia, endermi- 
cally, a space on the surface of the body is deprived of its cuticle 
by means of a blister, and on this denuded portion the agent is 
applied either in the form of powder or of ointment. In testimony 

* Dr. A. Flint, in American Journal of Medical Sciences, Oct. 1841, p. 278. 

f l'hihul. M.d. Examiner, \-\U. I, 1813, p. 24. 

t Ibid. Oct. 19, and Oct. 2G, 1839. 

5 Lond. Med. Gazette, April 1, 1837. 

1| Richter, Op. cit. S. 331. Berlin, Medicin. Zeitung. Jan. 4, 1837. 



52S QUINIJ2 SULPHAS. 

of the efficacy of this mode of administering the salts of quinia, 
many observers have come forward, — Lesieur, Lembert, Martin, 
Wesche, Lehmann, Reilingh, Stratingh, Lieber, G. Lane Corbin,* 
and others. From four to eight grains may be placed on the 
denuded part once or oftener in the day. Dr. Lieber, of Berlin, 
seems to have prescribed the salt most frequently in this way : 
he mentions, that of sixty cases, in which he employed it, only 
eight or ten were unsuccessful ; and there was reason to believe, 
that in these cases the internal administration of sulphate of 
quinia would have failed also. In the case of adults, he applies 
a blister in the evening — of the size of a dollar — over the 
epigastric region ; in the morning, during the apyrexia, the 
blister is cut ; the cuticle removed, and five or six grains — in 
children two grains — of the sulphate are sprinkled over the 
denuded surface. The whole is then covered with adhesive 
plaster, which must extend to the breadth of a finger over the 
edges of the blistered part. 

The sprinkling of the sulphate always occasions a violent burn- 
ing sensation, but if it be applied in the form of ointment, this 
evil is avoided, or at least diminished. The pain, however, 
speedily, disappears. Some hours after the application of the 
remedy, oppression is felt in the stomach, with a desire to vomit, 
without, however, vomiting supervening ; borborygmi, or un- 
easiness in the bowels, and frequently fluid dejections, with 
augmented secretion of saliva, which, hi some cases, continues 
for several days. 

In the course of from twelve to twenty-four hours after the 
application, a very bitter taste is generally perceived over the 
whole tongue, similar to that of quinia : and if the application 
has been made sufficiently long before the anticipated paroxysm, 
it may be entirely prevented, or be rendered much milder. After 
the effect has been produced, the adhesive plaster may be kept 
applied for some days, and, if the sore is not healed, it may be 
dressed with simple applications. In only two cases did Dr. 
Lieber observe any extensive or offensive suppuration ; and both 
healed under simple dressings with dry lint. 

Rubbing quinia on the gums has, likewise, been occasionally 
recommended, as well as frictions with the alcoholic solution, or 
with an ointment, on these as well as other portions of the sur- 
face of the body — the thighs, groins, and pit of the stomach ;f 
and it has been advised in cases of intermittent cephalalgia, 
and in iralgia, to be snuffed up the nostrils.J 



* Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intelligencer, Aug. 1841, p. 26. 
f Dr. Schuster, cited in Amer. Journ. May, 1832, p. 242: and Antonini, 
Journal des Connoissauces, Oct. 1838. 

% B. St. Hilaire, in Gazette Medicale de Paris, Mars 26, 1836. 



QUINLE SULPHAS. 529 

Recently, Dr. Guastamocchia* has succeeded in arresting in- 
termittents by dissolving eight grains of sulphate of quinia in 
half an ounce of alcohol, and rubbing it, in two doses with an 
interval of a quarter of an hour between them, along the spine. 
This should be done at the beginning of the cold stage. It very 
often prevented a single recurrence of the paroxysm. 

Mistura qniniae snlpliat is. 

Mixture of sulphate of quinia. 

R. Quinice sulphat. gr. x. 
Acid, sulph. dil. gtt. viij. 
Aquae vel 

Aquae cinnam. f.^iiss. 
Syrup. f-5ij- M. 

Dose. — A table-spoonful. 

Syrnpus qniniae snlphatis. 
Syrup of sulphate of quinia. 

R. Quinias sulphat. gr. xvj. 
Syrup, f-3 viij. M. 

Dose. — A spoonful. Magendie. 

Syrupus qniniae snlphatis compositus, 
Compound syrup of sulphate of quinia. 

R. Quinia: sulphat. gr. xvj. 
Acid, sulphur, dilut. gtt. v. 
Syrup, limonis, f.3 viij. M. 

Dose. — Same as the last. 

• II Filiatre Sebezio, Agosto, 1841, cited in Brit, and For. Med. Rev. Jan. 
1813, p. 236. 

45 



530 QTJINI.E SULPHAS. 

Tinctura quiniae snip hatis. 

Tincture of sulphate of quinia. 

R. Quinise sulph. gr. vj. 
Solve in 

Alcohol. 34° (.847) f.f j. 

Dose. — f.3j. or f.3ij., immediately before an attack of inter- 
mittent. Magendie. 

Gutta; quinia; sulphatis et opii. 
Drops of sulphate of quinia and opium. 

R. Quiniee sulphat. (seu acetat.) gr, xij. 
Solve in 

Alcohol, (seu sp. rether. sulph. corap.) f.3ss. 
Adde 

Tinct. opii, gtt. xij. 

Dose. — Morning and evening, twenty drops, in the summer 
fevers of Europe. Schmidt. 

Pulveres quinia; sulphatis. 
Powders of sulphate of quinia. 

R. Quiniae sulphat. gr. iij. ad. xij. 
Sacchar. 3ij- 
Misce et fiat pulvis in partes vj. aequales dividendus. 

Dose. — A powder morning and evening, in nervous debility 
and in intermit tents. 

Radius* advises, that the powders should be taken in coffee ; 
by which means the bitter taste is almost wholly counteracted. 

* Auserlesene Heilformeln, u. s. w. S. 186. Leipz. 1836. 



QUINLE SULPHAS. 531 

Pulveres quinia; snlphatis et soda; carbonatis. 

Powders of sulphate of quinia and carbonate of soda. 

R. Quiniae sulphat. gr. j. — ij. 
Sodae carbonat. gr. iv. — v. 
Sacch. 9j. 
Misce et fiat pulvis. 

Dose. — A powder, morning and evening, in scrophulous oph- 
thalmia. Von Jlmmon. 

Pulveres quiniae snlphatis et antinionii tartratis. 

Powders of sulphate of quinia and tartarised antimony. 

R. Quiniae sulphat. gr. x. 

Antim. et potass, tartrat. gr. iij. 
Sacchar. gr. xxiij. 
Misce exacte, et divide in partes sex sequales. 

Dose. — One, every two hours, during the apyrexia, in cases of 
obstinate intermit tents. Gola* 

Pulveres quinia snlphatis et opii. 

Powders of sulphate of quinia and opium. 

R. Opii puri, gr. j. 

Quiniae sulph. gr. iij. 

Sacchar. 

Acac. aa. gr. vj. M. fiat pulvis. 

To be taken a short time before the paroxysm in malignant 
intermit tents. Neumann. 

Pulveres quiniae snlphatis et morphia? sulphatis. 

Powders of sulphate of quinioe and sulphate of morphia. 

R. Quinia; sulph. gr. ij. ad vj. 
Morphiae sulph. gr. \ ad j. 
Divide in dos. iv. 

Magendie. 

* Annali Univers. diMedicina, torn. 35. 



532 QUINIJE SULPHAS. 

Pulveres qniniae sulphatis compositi. 
Compound powders of sulphate of quinia. 

R. Quinise sulph. gr. j. 
Cinchon. pulv. gr. xv. 
Rhei pulv. 

Oleosacchar. menth. aa. gr. v. 
Misce et fiat pulvis. 

Eight of these to be given in cases of intermittent fever. 

Naurnann. 

R. Quinise sulph. gr. $. 
Chocolat. gr. vij. 
Sacchar. lact. gr. ij. 
Misce. Fiat pulvis tertiis omnibus horis sumendus. 

In debility of the stomach. Kopp. 

Pilulae quinia sulphatis. 
Pills of sulphate of quinia. 

R. Quinise sulphat. gr. v. — xij. 
Ext. glycyrrhiz. Ji. 
Misce et fiant pilulae xij. 

To be given, according to prescription, in nervous diseases. 

Radius. 

A form for pills of quinia is admitted into the Pharma- 
copoeia of the United States : 

R. Quiniae sulphat. sj. 
Acaciae, in pulv. 5'j- 
Syrup, q. s. 

Mix together the sulphate of quinia and the gum ; then beat 
them with the syrup so as to form a mass, to be divided into 
four hundred and eighty pills. 

Each pill contains a grain of the sulphate. 



QUINIJE SULPHAS. 



533 



PilulEB quinisB sulphatis composite. 

Compound pills of sulphate of quinia. 

R. Quiniae sulphat. gr. x. — xv. 
Acid, phosphoric, sice. ^ij. 
Althseae, (vel rhei,) pulv. ^iv. 
Ext. centaur, minor, (vel gentian.) ^ij. 
Misce et riant pilulae lx. 

Dose. — Three to six pills, two or three times a day, in cases 
of nervous debility with disposition to hemorrhage, — as after 
abortion. Radius. 

R. Quinia? sulphat. gr. xv. 
Cinnam. pulv. $ss. 
Extract, cinchona?, q. s. lit fiant pilulae xxx. 

Dose. — Four pills every two to four hours. Henschel. 

R. Quinia? sulphat. gr. xij. 
Extract, trifol. 9j. 
Calam. pulv. q. s. 
Fiant pilulae xij. 

Dose. — One or two, every two hours. Hildenbrand. 

Pulvis sternutatorius ex quiniBB sulphate. 
Sternutatory powder of sulphate of quinia. 

R. Quinia? sulphat. gr. xv. 

Tabaci sternutator. com. §j. M. 

To be snuffed up the nostrils in the course of five or six days, 
in cases of intermittent hcadach. 



R. Quiniae sulphat. gr. vj. 
Sacchar. pulv. Jj. 
I rid. rad. pulv. ^\ss. M, 

Small pinches of this to be snuffed up the nose at night. 

B. St. Hilairt. 
45* 



534 QUINLE ET CINCHONIiE TANNAS. 

Unguentnm quinirc snlphatis. 

Ointment of sulphate of quinia. 

R. Quiniae sulphat. §j. 

Alcohol (38° ad 40°) q. s. (§ij.) 
Acid, sulphuric, q. s. (gtt. lxxx.) 
Adipis, 3iv. M. 

Half an ounce at a time to be rubbed on the groins in malig- 
nant inter mitt ents. It may be likewise placed in the axilla. 

Jlntonini. 

Anointment composed of3j. of sulphate of quinia and 3ij. of 
lard, has been rubbed with success into the axilla in cases of ague 
in children.* 

Vimim quinia. 

Wine of quinia. 

R. Quiniae sulphat. gr. xij. 
Vin. Mader. Oij. 

Wine of quinia may, also, be made extemporaneously, by 
adding two ounces of the tincture to a pint bottle of wine. 



CXXIX. QUI'NIiE ET CINCHONIA TANNAS. 

Synonymes. Chinium Tannicum,Tannas Chiniiseu Cinchonicus seu Quini- 

cus, Tannate of Quinia, and Cinchonia. 
German. Gerbstoffsaures Chinin, Gerbsaures oder Tanninsaures Chinin 

Dr. Ottot has drawn the attention of physicians to the efficacy 
of the Tannates of Quinia and Cinchonia, as recommended by 
Dr. Ronander, the Secretary to the Swedish Medical Association. 
He regards them as the most active ingredients in the cinchonas ; 
and affirms, that he has cured by their agency several cases of 
obstinate intermittent, which had resisted the use of sulphate of 
quinia and other powerful remedies. He found them likewise 

* Lond. Med. Gaz. April 3, 1840. 

\ Dublin Journal of Medical Science, Sept. 1836. 



QUINIJE ET CINCHONIiE TANNAS. 535 

very useful in typhus and in states of general weakness and ten- 
dency to-putrescency, where sulphate of quinia seemed to be in- 
effectual. Dr. Ronander's experiments establish the belief, that 
the tannic acid of the cinchonas may be instrumental in de- 
veloping their full febrifuge powers.* Tannate of quinia is also 
a cheaper remedy than the sulphate. 



OTHER PREPARATIONS OF QUINIA. 

On separating quinia from cinchona by means of acids, a 
resinous constituent of the bark remains behind, which affords 
no more quinia, but yet possesses considerable febrifuge power, 
and on that account has been much used by the Dutch physicians. 
Two grains of this residuum are said to act as well as one grain 
of quinia. Truessink adduces a series of observations of different 
physicians, all of which confirm this, and he cites the experience 
of American physicians with the residuum. According to Dr. 
Chapman,! a grain of this maybe given every two hours during 
the apyrexia, in the form of pill. Strathing ascribes its efficacy 
to the quinia still contained in it. In Italy, several physicians 
have found the mother waters or lees after the preparation of 
quinia, when boiled to the consistence of syrup, very efficacious 
in intermittents ; and Roux recommends it highly for practice 
amongst the poor. Buchner advises the lees, evaporated to dry- 
ness — which he terms Chininum Resino-sulphuricum — to be 
introd uced as a cheap, and, at the same time, efficacious prepara- 
tion of cinchona, which may be used in charitable institutions, 
rubbed up with sugar as a powder,or dissolved in alcohol, in place 
of sulphate of quinia. These experiments and propositions, as 
RieckeJ observes, merit more consideration than they have yet 
received ; for quinia, notwithstanding its price is much less than 
formerly, is yet so dear, that its administration does not adapt it 
well for charitable institutions, whilst the residue, which possesses 
valuable properties, is generally thrown away, and in this manner 
the price of quinia is enhanced. 

Seriurner§ thinks he discovered, besides quinia and cinchonia, 
other alkaloids of cinchona, especially one, which he calls Chin- 
ioidine, or Chinoidine, and which excels, he considers, in medici- 
nal properties, all the other preparations of cinchona. Henry and 
Delondre — the French chemists — affirm, that chinioidiue is 



* Revue Medicals, Mai, 1837, and Dunglison's Amer. Med. Intelligencer, 
Oct. 1G, 1837, |.. 270. 
f Elements of Therapeutics, 6th edit. ii. 292. Pliilad. 1831. 
jf. Die neuern Arzjieiiniltel, a. s. w. S. 130. 
§ Hufeland'a Journal, Jan. 1829. 



536 SALICINA. 

nothing more than quinia, cinchonia, and a peculiar yellow resi- 
nous matter, intimately adherent to that alkaloid. It. appears, 
also, from the experiments of different physicians with the pre- 
sumed new alkaloid, that it essentially resembles the prepara- 
tions already mentioned in its medical properties.* A Resina 
Chinse Prveparata is recommended by Plagge, which is prepared 
from the mother waters or lees of quinia, by means of precipi- 
tation by a carbonated alkali, extraction by alcohol, and removal 
of the alcoholic liquor by distillation. It is said, likewise, to pos- 
sess markedly curative powers in inter mitt ents. 

The Pharmacopoeia of the United States of 1830 gave a for- 
mula under the title Quinia Sulphas Impurus, which consisted 
in evaporating the liquor poured off the crystals of sulphate of 
quinia to the consistence of a pilular mass. This has been known 
for years in Philadelphia under the name of Extract of Quinia, 
and its active ingredients appear to be sulphate of quinia and 
sulphate of cinchonia, which are prevented from crystallisingby 
a peculiar resinoid substance united with them. 

Dr. Woodt asserts, that he has seldom found intermittents re- 
sist twenty-four grains of the impure sulphate, given between the 
paroxysms ; although a larger quantity may be employed with 
safety and greater certainty of success. The Author has never 
prescribed it. 



CXXX. SALICINA. 

Synonymes. Salicinum, Salicinium, Salicine, Salicin. 
German. Salicin, Weidenstoff, Weidenbitter. 

The tonic virtues of the bark of the willow have been known 
for ages, and it has been regarded as one of the best substitutes 
for cinchona in eleemosynary institutions. It was not much 
valued, however, in more modern times, until the discovery of an 
active principle in it again attracted to it the attention of practi- 
tioners. This discovery, if not made, was perfected, by Leroux,{ 
an apothecary at Vitry, in France, who first obtained salicin in 
a pure state in 182S, after it had been procured in an impure 
form by some German and Italian chemists.§ It is prepared, by 

*< See Radius, Anserlesene Heilforraeln, S. 191, Leipz, 1836, and Lincke, 
Vollstandiges Recept-Taschenbuch, i. 455, Leipz. 1840. 

t Wood and Bache's Dispensatory, 4th edit. p. 1032. Philrid. 1839. 

X Annales de Chimie, &c. xliii., and Journal de Chimie Medicale, torn. vi. 

§ Dictionnaire de Mat. Med. par Merat and De Lens, art. Salicine. 






SAL1CINA. 537 

preference, from Salix helix, but it is found likewise in the barks 
of other willows — Salix alba, S. vitellina, S. purpurea, S. Lamber- 
tiana, S. pentandra, G. polyandra, S. fragilis, S. viminalis, &c., 
and in the leaves and barks of several varieties of poplar, Popu- 
lus trernula, P. tremuloides,* P. alba, and P. Grasca.t 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

According to the method of Leroux, three pounds of dried and 
powdered willow bark {salix helix) are boiled for three-quarters 
of an hour in fifteen pounds of water, to which four ounces of 
carbonate ofpotassa have been added. To the cold decoction 
are added two pounds of liquid subacetate of lead. The mixture 
is permitted to settle, is filtered, treated with sulphuric acid, 
and the remaining lead precipitated by a stream of sulphuretted 
hydrogen gas. The excess of acid is neutralised by carbonate of 
lime : the mixture is again filtered, the fluid inspissated and neu- 
tralised by dilute sulphuric acid. It is deprived of its colour by 
ivory black, and filtered whilst boiling. It is then twice crystal- 
lised — if still coloured after the first crystallisation — and dried 
in the dark. This process yields about an ounce of salicin. 

Braconnotf obtains it by adding subacetate of lead to a, decoc- 
tion of the bark, precipitating the excess of lead by sulphuric 
acid, evaporating the colourless liquid that remains, adding near 
the end of the process a little animal charcoalpveviously washed, 
and filtering the liquor while hot. The salicin is deposited, on 
cooling, in a crystalline form.§ 

The following plan has been advised by Messrs. Fisher and 
Tyson, of Baltimore. || Willow bark is boiled with caustic lime 
in water ; the decoction is filtered and sulphate of zinc add ;d, so 
long as it produces a precipitate. The liquid, having been again 
filtered, is evaporated to the consistence of an extract, and the 
residue is treated with alcohol. The tincture, thus obtained, if 
carefully evaporated, yields crystals of salicin, which may be 
purified by washing with a saturated solution of the same prin- 
ciple in cold water. 

Salicin forms very fine silky masses of white crystals, which 
have the appearance of mother-of-pearl. It bears a distant re- 

• See Mr. L. Turnbull, On Populus tremuloides, White Poplar or American 
Aspen, in Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy, Jan. 1813, p. 275. 

f Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, S. 3(55, and 2te Auflage, £ 72. Stuttgart, 
1840. 

t Journal de Chimie Mi-dicale, Janvier, 1831. 

§ For Feschier's method, see Annales de Chimie, vol. xliv., and Amer. 
Journ. Med. Sciences, May, 1831, p. 25G. 

|) Journal of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, iii. 214. 



538 SALICINA. 

semblance to sulphate of quinia, yet it is not so loose and deli- 
cate. It is permanent in the air, inodorous, and has a strong, 
enduring bitter taste, with a striking accompanying balsamic fla- 
vour, like the bark of the willow.* One hundred parts of cold 
water dissolve six parts of salicin. In warm water, it is more 
soluble, and also in alcohol ; but it is not soluble either in ether 
or the essential oils. It exhibits no alkaline reaction. By ad- 
mixture with sulphuric acid, salicin acquires a beautiful red 
colour.t 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The well known effects of the barks of the willows gave occa- 
sion to the immediate employment of salicin in cases of inter- 
mittent fever. MiquelJ appears to have been one of the first 
— if not the first — who instituted experiments with it ; and he 
satisfied himself, that it merits a distinguished place amongst our 
febrifuge agents, although it requires larger doses than quinia. 
Soon afterwards, it was given by other physicians — by Husson 
and Bally, Girardin, Magendie, Andral, Blaincourt, Graff, Linz, 
Stegmayer, Amelung, Stam, Van Sneek, Blom, Grafe, Von dem 
Busch, krombholz, Pleischl, and others. 

The sentiments, respecting its value, are discrepant; some 
classing it far beneath quinia, whilst others assign it even a 
higher position. Its general properties are certainly analogous 
to those of quinia; but it in no respect merits a preference, § not 
even in the article of price : for, although an equal weight of sa- 
licin may cost less, it requires so much more to produce the same 
effect, that the cost is perhaps equal. Still, as M. Pleischl, || of 
Prague, has suggested, even if salicin were much the dearer of 
the two, it might be better to use it, because it is of home manu- 
facture, and can be obtained in war as well as in peace. 

* MM. Pelouze and Jules Gay Lussac, in Annates de Chimie, vol. xliv. 

f For an elaborate account of the chemical relations of salicin, see M. R. 
Piria, Annales de Chimie et de Physique, Novembre, 1838. 

% Gazette Medicale de Paris, Janv. 1830 ; see, also, Annales de Chimie, 
xliii. and xliv. 

§ Richelot, in Archives Generates de Me"decine, Sepr. 1833: see, also, 
Prof. Dierbach, in Heidelb klinisch. Annal. B. x. H. 1. S. 62. Heidelb. 
1834. 

|| Mcdicinisch. Jahrblicher desk. k. 6. Staat. 1835; and Br. and For. 
Med. Rev. for April, 1836, p. 576. 



539 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The ordinary dose of salicin, in a case of intermittent, is about 
four or six grains every three hours during the period of inter- 
mission ; in the febres larvatse, or masked fevers, smaller doses 
may be given; but in the very violent fevers at Calvi,in the Island 
of Corsica, Levy found it often necessary to give from forty to 
fifty grains in twenty-four hours. Of thirty cases of quotidian 
and tertian intermittents, twenty were cured by the use of sali- 
cin ; ten required afterwards the sulphate of quinia. He consi- 
ders it preferable to sulphate of quinia in intermittents that are 
accompanied by irritation in the primae viae : he never saw it 
rejected or produce vomiting ; and incases of manifest irritation 
of the digestive tube, it has been borne perfectly well.* 

Salicin is generally given in intermittents, in the form of pow- 
der. In other affections, to obtain its febrifuge or tonic agency, 
one or two grains may be given four or five times a day — gra- 
dually augmenting the dose. 

In cases of asthenia of the digestive organs, Von dem Busch 
prescribes a powder of salicin and sugar with the addition of 
cinnamon ; and lozenges of salicin, sugar, gum arabic, and oil 
of peppermint. In cases of copious secretion from the mucous 
membranes, especially in chronic bronchitis and leucorrhoza , he 
directs salicin to be combined with a decoction of polygala 
amara, or of lichen lslandicus. In intermittents, Stegmayer 
advises it to be associated with small doses of tartrate of anti- 
mony and potassa. 



Pilulse salicinse. 
Pills of salicin. 

R. Salicin. 

Ext. gentian. ;\i. gr. xxiv. 
Glycyrrh. pulv. q. v- 
ut fiant pilula; xij. 

Vavasseur. 



* Archives Mcdicales dc Strasbourg, and Gazette M^dicale de Paris, F6vr. 
25, 1837. 



540 



SAPO MOLLIS. 



Pulveres salicinae. 

Powders of salicin. 

R. Salicin. gr. xij. 
Sacch. 9ij. Misce 
et fiat pulvis in partes iv. sequales dividendus. 

Dose. — One, three times a day. 



Krombholz. 



Pnlieres salicinae composite 

Compound powders of salicin. 

R. Salicin. gr. xv. 

Antim. et potass, tartrat. gr. j. 
Sacchar. ^iiss. Misce 
etfiat pulvis, in partes x. jequales dividendus. 

Dose. — A powder, every two hours. Stegmayer. 

Mistura salicinae. 

Mixture of salicin. 

R. Polygal. amar. rad. 3 V > 
Coque cum aquae f.^xij. ad remanent, f.^viij. 
Colaturas adde 

Salicin. gr. viij. ad. x. M. 

Dose. — One or two spoonfuls every two hours. 

Von dem Busch. 



CXXXI. SAPO MOLLIS. 

Synonymes. Sapo Viridis, S. Niger, S. Kalicus, S. Domesticus mollis, Sapo 

ex Olivae Oleo et Potassa confectus, Kali elainicum. 
French. Savon Noir, Savon Mou, Savon a base de Potasse. 
German. Schmierseife, Griine Schmierseife, Kaufliche Kaliseife, Schwarze 

Seife, Olsaures Kali. 

Under this name a soap is used, which is formed by a union of 
oil with potassa. It is the " sapo ex oleo et potassd confectus" of 
the London Pharmacopoeia, has of late years been brought for- 



SAPO MOLLIS. 541 

ward in Germany as a remedial agent in cases of itch,* and has 
been employed in many hospitals. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The treatment of itch by soft soap is directed by PfeufTer to 
be carried into effect in the following manner. 

Attention is paid to the general health of the patient for a day 
before the soap is applied. His whole body, with the exception 
of the head, face, and genital organs, is then besmeared with it, 
and the application isrepeated, morning and evening, forsix days. 
At first, two rubbings, of from four to six ounces, are used : at the 
third and fourth, from two to three ounces ; and from the fifth to 
the seventh inclusive, from half an ounce to an ounce ; but after 
this, the soap is applied only to those parts which are affected 
with the eruption or itching. On the eighth day the patient takes 
a bath of tepid soap and water; and the body and bed linen, which 
have not been shifted during the cure, may now be changed for 
cleaner. In dry and warm seasons, the patient is able to leave 
the infirmary on the tenth day, cured ; but in moist and cold, not 
until the twelfth or fourteenth. The cure of the eruption is gene- 
rally effected in seven days, that is, by fourteen rubbings. Dur- 
ing the period of treatment, the patient must remain in bed, 
avoid exposure to draughts of air, and reside in a chamber, 
whose temperature is from 73° to 77° of Fahrenheit. 

On account of the strong smell of the soap, not more than ten 
patients ought to be allowed to occupy the same room. A full 
diet may be allowed them. 

From six to eight hours after the first or second rubbing, a 
sense of tension and pricking is felt in the skin, which, at times, 
gradually augments until it amounts to a feeling of burning 
heat, About the fifth or sixth rubbing, the skin appears of a 
scarlet hue, without the temperature being materially elevated. 
In several cases, irritative fever ensues, which disappears in the 
course of twenty-four hours, with augmented secretion of urine. 
Miliary vesicles form in groups; sweating takes place freely ; the 
sleep, which may have been disturbed for a night or two, recurs ; 
the skin desquamates, and the patient does not find his strength in 
the least exhausted. Should the inflammation of the skin occur 
earlier than the sixth rubbing, the friction must be pretermitted. 
PfeufTer, however, never observed this to he the case. 
In swophulous and syphilitic dyscrasies, the friction may have 

* PfeufTer, Beobachtungen liber die Kratze unci ihre Bchandlung durch die 
Schmier-oder griine Seife. .Bamberg, 1833. 
46 



542 SAPO MOLLIS. 

to be repeated once more, and the patient may have to remain 
from two to four weeks in the institution. 

It very generally happens, that this plan excites inflammation 
of the skin and desquamation of the cuticle : when this is not 
the case, no change whatever is produced in the eruption. 

In order to mitigate the distressing feeling of burning produced 
by the rubbing, one part of flowers of sulphur may be added 
to two parts of the soft soap. 

In those cases, in which the disease has existed for years, with 
greater or less intervals, and in those who were strumous in their 
youth, or were at a subsequent period affected with syphilis; — 
in all cases, indeed, in which the cutaneous affection has become, 
as it were, habitual, Pfeuffer directs, that a cathartic should be 
premised, and that in the course of the cure, a quart of the de- 
coction of the woods should be taken. 

This mode of treatment, according to Pfeuffer, is contraindi- 
cated by febrile conditions, especially of the synochal kind; by 
acute cutaneous affections ; pulmonary and abdominal catarrhs ; 
pulmonary and abdominal phthisis ; chronic headach ; and here- 
ditary or acquired tendency to epilepsy. In such cases he prefers 
the internal and external use of sulphur : and, after the cure, 
the establishment of issues. 

The great recommendation of this plan of treatment, in hospi- 
tals and infirmaries, is said to be its cheapness, although it strikes 
us, that there cannot be any marked difference in this respect 
between it and the treatment by sulphur, which is greatly used, 
on this very ground, in many of the eleemosynary establish- 
ments of Germany at this time.* 

The efficacy of Pfeuffer's plan of treatment has been confirm- 
ed by numerous observers, — by Graff, Bermann, and Cramer, 
who is said to have first recommended the soap in scabies; and 
by Sicherer, Seyffer, Cless, and others, all of whom agree as to 
its excellence: they regard it as one of the best methods of treat- 
ment in use. The soft soap forms an ingredient in many of the 
officinal and other itch ointments.f 

* H. Vezin, Ueber die Kratze und ihre Behandlung nach der Englischen 
Methode. Osnabruck, 1836. See, also, Dunglison's American Medical Intel- 
ligencer, Aug. 15, 1839, p. 158. 

f Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. 2te Auflage, S. 584. Stuttgart, 
1840. 



SODA CHLORINATA. 543 



CXXXII. SODA CHLORINATA. 

Stnonymes. Sodse Chloridum, S. Chloruretum, S. Hypochloris, Chloruretum 
Oxidi Sodii, Sodae Oxymurias, Natrum Chloratum, N. Chloricum, N. Oxy- 
muriaticum, Chlorinated Soda, Chloride of Soda, Hypochlorite of Soda, 
Chloruret of Soda, Chlorite of Soda, Oxymuriate of Soda. 

French. Chlorure de Soude, Chlorure d'Oxide de Sodium. 

German. Chlornatron. 

This preparation resembles in almost all respects chlorinated 
lime. Both it and chlorinated potassa were associated by Ber- 
thollet under the common name Eau de Javelle, or ' bleach- 
ing liquor' ; and it has of late generally received the name of 
Liqueur de Labarraque, or Labarraque' 's Soda Disinfecting 
Liquid. 

METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Labarraque* recommended it to be prepared directly by pass- 
ing a current of chlorine gas into a solution of carbonate of 
soda. 

The following is the formula in the last London Pharmacopoeia, 
for the Liquor Sodfc Chlorinate, Liquor Sodse Chloridi, L. 
Sodae Oxymuriaticse, L. Chloreti seu Chlorureti Natri sen Sodse, 
Natrum Chloratum Liquidum, L. seu Jiqua Natri Oxyrnuria- 
tici, Hypochloris Sodicus Jlqud Solutus ; German, Oxydirt salz- 
saures Natronwasser, C hlorsodaflussigkeit , or Labarraque 's 
Disinfecting Liquid. " Take of Carbonate of soda, a pound ; 
Distilled water, forty-eight fluid ounces ; Chloride of sodium, 
four ounces; Binoxide of manganese, three ounces; Sulphuric 
acid, four ounces. Dissolve the carbonate of soda in two pints 
of the water ; then put the chloride of sodium and binoxide of 
manganese, rubbed to powder, into a retort, and add to them the 
sulphuric acid, previously mixed with three fluid ounces of 
water, and cooled. Heat and transmit the chlorine first through 
five fluid ounces of water, and afterwards into the solution of 
carbonate of soda above directed." 

The following form is given in the last edition of the 
Pharmacopoeia of the United States (1842): — "Take of 
Chlorinated lime, fftj. ; Carbonate of soda, ftjij. ; Water, a gal- 
lon and a half. Dissolve the carbonate of soda in three pints 
of the water, with the aid of heat. To the remainder of the 
water add, by small portions at a time, the chlorinated lime, 

* Gazette de Sante, April 25, 1826. 



514 SODA CHLORINATA. 

previously well triturated, stirring the mixture after each addi- 
tion. Set the mixture hy for several hours, that the dregs may 
subside ; then decant the clear liquid, and mix it with the solu- 
tion of carbonate of soda. Lastly, decant the clear liquor from 
the precipitated carbonate of?lime, pass it through a linen cloth, 
and keep it in bottles secluded from the light." 

When the solution of chlorinated soda is properly prepared, 
it is devoid of colour ; has a sharp, saline, and astringent taste, 
and an odour of chlorine. By careful evaporation, it yields 
crystals, which produce the original liquid when re-dissolved. 
When the solution is exposed to the air, and allowed to evapo- 
rate spontaneously, it gives out chlorine, and yields crystals of 
carbonate of soda.* 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

In its general remedial agency, chlorinated soda resembles 
chlorinated lime, and has been administered both internally and 
externally in the same cases. It is preferred, however, for inter- 
nal, whilst chlorinated lime is generally chosen for external 
use, and this, chiefly perhaps, owing to its being obtained more 
conveniently, and cheaply. Dr. Pereira states, however, that 
he has carefully prepared and tried the two chlorides, and gives a 
decided preference to the chloride of soda. Labarraque, like- 
wise, preferred it as an antiseptic, on the ground, that by the 
process of disinfection, it becomes chloride of sodium, which is 
not a deliquescent salt ; whilst chloride of calcium, formed by 
chloride of lime, attracts water from the atmosphere, and thereby 
furnishes one of the conditions — moisture — necessary to the pu- 
trefractive process. Hence, he thinks, whilst chloride of lime 
will serve equally well for simple disinfection, chloride of soda 
is to be preferred where we wish at the same time to prevent 
a renewal of putrefaction.! 

By Bouillaud, Chomel and others, chlorinated soda has been 
given, with advantage, in typhous fevers ; and by Kretschmar,f 
Lalesque, Colson,and Gouzee§ in intermittents :|| ten cases are 
reported by the last named gentleman ; in two, the intermittent 
yielded immediately ; two others were cured after a slight re- 
turn ; in one, there were four attacks, gradually diminishing ; in 

* Faraday, Quarterly Journal of Science, N. S, ii. 84, cited by Brande, Dic- 
tionary of the Materia Medica, p. 508, Lond. 1839. 

f Pereira, Elements of Materia Medicaid edit. p. 540, Lond. 1842; or 
Amer.edit. by Dr. Carson, Philad. 1843. 

X Venus, Grundriss der medicin. Receptirkunst, S. 67. Weimar, 1838. 

§ Revue Medicale, Fevrier, 1836. 

|j Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, S. 334, and 2te Auflage, S. 511. Stutt- 
gart, 1840. 



STRYCHNIA. 



545 



two cases, the severity of the paroxysms abated, but it was 
thought necessary to have recourse to sulphate of quinia ; in two 
others, no effect was produced, and in one, the disease was ag- 
gravated. Gouzee infers, that these cases prove the febrifuge 
properties of chlorinated soda to be less marked than those of 
sulphate of qninia, and, therefore, that it ought not to be trusted 
to, except in the slighter cases, and where the patients are easily 
susceptible of the effects of medicine, — as women and children. 
In like manner, it has been found useful in scrophulous affec- 
tions, and in various diseases in which chlorinated lime has 
proved serviceable. See Calx Chlorinata. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

From ten drops to a dram, mixed with plain or sugared water, 
may be given internally for a dose. 

The form in which it was prescribed by Gouzee, in inter- 
mittent s, was a mixture, composed of half a dram to four 
ounces of distilled water. This wastaken by spoonfuls during 
the apyrexia; so that the last dose should be swallowed shortly 
before the next paroxysm was expected. The patients were re- 
stricted to their beds, or at least to their chambers. 

When applied externally, it is rarely used pure or diluted with 
so little as one-half water, except in cases of asphyxia, and gan- 
grene, and for dressing old ulcers, &c. Most commonly it is 
diluted with ten to thirty parts of water, and in this strength is 
applied to ulcers of various kinds, burns, cutaneous diseases, &c. 
When used as a disinfecting agent, it is generally diluted with 
ten, twenty or thirty times its weight of water.* 



STRYCHNIA ET EJUS SALES. 
Synontme. Strychnia and its salts. 

CXXXII1. STRYCHNIA. 

Synontmes. Strychnina, Strychniuni, Strychninum, Strychnia, Strychna, 

Strychnine, Vaucjueline. 
French. Strychnine. 
German. Strychnin, KrahenaugenstofiT, Kriihenaugenbitter. 

This alkaloid was discovered by Pellet ier and Caventou,t in 
nux vomica, St. Ignatius's bean, upas tieutc, and in the wood 

* Payan, Revue Medicale, Aout, 1839. 
t Annates de Chimie, torn. viii. ix. and x. 
46* 



546 STRYCHNIA. 

of strychnos colubrina ; and experiment has shown, that these 
substances are indebted for their medicinal properties to it.* 

In those different substances, strychnia is found associated 
with another principle analogous to it in its properties — brucia.t 
In St. Ignatius's bean, there is less brucia than in mix vomica, 
so that it is best adapted for the preparation of strychnia ; but it 
is not as easily obtained, and consequently mix vomica is almost 
always — if not always — used. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

According to one form of preparation, a solution of liquid 
subacetate of lead is added to a solution of the alcoholic extract 
ofnux vomica in water, until a precipitate is no longer thrown 
down ; the foreign matters being thus precipitated, the strychnia 
remains in solution with a portion of colouring matter, and 
sometimes an excess of acetate of lead. The lead is now sepa- 
rated by sulphxiretted hydrogen ; and the fluid is filtered and 
boiled with magnesia, which unites with the acetic acid, and 
precipitates the strychnia. The precipitate is next washed in 
cold water, and redissolved in alcohol to separate it from the 
excess of magnesia, and by evaporating the alcohol, the strych- 
nia is obtained. If it be not perfectly white, it must be redis- 
solved in acetic, or hydrochloric acid, and be reprecipitated by 
means of magnesia. 

The modes of preparation recommended in the Pharmaco- 
poeias of London, Edinburgh, and the United States, differ from 
each other. The following is that contained in the last work 
(1842) : — Take of Nux vomica, rasped, foiv. ; Lime, in powder, 
5VJ. ; Muriatic acid, f.giij. ; Alcohol, Dilute sulphuric acid, So- 
lution of ammonia, Purified animal charcoal, Water, each a 
sufficient quantity. Digest the nux vomica in two gallons of 
water, acidulated with a fluid ounce of the muriatic acid, for 
twenty-four hours; then boil for two hours, and strain with ex- 
pression through a strong linen bag. Boil the residuum twice 
successively in the same quantity of acidulated water, each time 
straining as before. Mix the decoctions, and evaporate to the 
consistence of thin syrup ; then add the lime previously mixed 
with a pint of water, and boil for ten minutes, frequently stirring. 
Pour the mixture into a double linen bag, and, having washed 
the precipitate well with water, press,dry, and powder it. Treat 
the powder repeatedly with boiling alcohol until deprived of its 
bitterness j mix the liquors ; and distil off the alcohol by means 

* Magendie, Annales de Chimie, x. 176, 1819. 
I See page 111. 



STRYCHNIA. 547 

of a water bath. Mix the residue with water, and, having ap- 
plied heat, drop in sufficient diluted sulphuric acid to neutralise 
and dissolve the strychnia ; then add purified animal charcoal, 
boil for a few minutes, filter, evaporate and crystallize, Dissolve 
the crystals in water, and add sufficient solution of ammonia to 
precipitate the strychnia. Lastly, dry the precipitate on bibulous 
paper.* 

As thus prepared, it is in the form of a white powder. 

Strychnia, obtained by crystallisation from an alcoholic solu- 
tion, which has been diluted by means of a small quantity of 
water, and left to itself, appears under the form of microscopic 
crystals, constituting four-sided prisms, terminated by pyramids 
with four flattened or depressed faces. When crystallised ra- 
pidly, it is white and granular, is insupportably bitter to the 
taste, and leaves an after taste similar to that caused by certain 
metallic salts ; it has no smell, and is not changed by exposure 
to the air ; is neither fusible nor volatile ; for, when subjected to 
the action of heat, it does not fuse until the moment of its de- 
composition and carbonisation, and it is decomposed by a degree 
of heat inferior to that which destroys most vegetable substances. 
When exposed to the naked tire, it swells, becomes black, and 
yields an empyreumatic oil, a little water, acetic acid, carbonic 
acid, and carburetted hydrogen. Distilled with deutoxide of 
copper, it gives out much carbonic acid, and only slight traces 
of azote. It is composed, therefore, of oxygen, hydrogen and 
carbon. 

Although strychnia has so strong a taste, it is scarcely soluble 
in water. At 50° Fahr., 6667 parts of water dissolve but one of 
it; boiling water dissolves a little more than double, so that it 
may be said to be soluble in 2500 parts of boiling water. It is 
remarkable, however, that a solution made in the cold, and con- 
taining, therefore, only T oW n P art °f i ts weight, may be diluted 
100 times, and still retain a very decidedly bitter taste. It is 
more soluble in strong alcohol, little so in weak, and not much 
so in ether or fixed oils,although they acquire a bitter taste from 
it. On the other hand, it is very readily soluble in volatile oils, 
and the hot saturated solution, on cooling, deposits crystals. It 
has an alkaline reaction, and forms, with acids, salts which are 
mostly crystallisable, and insupportably bitter, and are more solu- 
ble than pure strychnia. t 

Strychnia, being sold at a high price, is liable to adulteration. 
A respectable druggist of Philadelphia informed the author, that 
one of his customers was offered strychnia by another house at 
a price considerably below what he had to pay for it when pur- 

• Pharmacop. of the United States, p. 184. Philad. 1842. 
| Magendie's Formulaire, &c. 



548 STRYCHNIA. 

chased even in large quantities from respectable sources. He 
purchased an eighth of an ounce of it at the rate of five dollars 
the ounce ; when pure strychnia could not be afforded at less 
than nine dollars per ounce. Some of this was tested, when it 
was found to consist of equal parts of flour or starch, and pure 
strychnia. 



EFFECTS ON THE ANIMAL ECONOMY IN HEALTH. 

The effects of strychnia on man and animals resemble, on the 
whole, those of the spirituous extract of nux vomica, except that 
they are more intense. According to Magendie, one-eighth of a 
grain is sufficient to kill a strong dog. Pope, who made experi- 
ments on dogs, found, that T Vth of a grain was enough to para- 
lyse the lower limbs of a small dog in four or five minutes, and 
in half an hour to kill it. Christison* considers strychnia the 
strongest poison after hydrocyanic acid. He injected a solution 
of a third of a grain in alcohol into the thorax of a wild boar, and 
in ten minutes the animal died. A dog was destroyed by |th of 
a grain in two minutes; and he believes, that the same effect 
would be induced on man by half a grain introduced into a 
wound. 

Lembertt observed similar results from placing a grain in the 
thorax of a small dog, and from three grains introduced into the 
cellular tissue of a larger animal, on which tetanic spasms were 
induced in the thoracic muscles. 

Mr. BlakeJ injected a grain of strychnia, dissolved in a small 
quantity of acetic acid, into the veins of a dog. The first effect 
of the poison was to induce general convulsions in about thirty 
seconds after its injection, the action of the heart being at the 
same time rendered irregular, which Mr. Blake presumes was 
owing to the convulsive struggles of the animal. All external 
signs of life ceased in about a minute and a half after the injec- 
tion of the poison — the heart still continued to beat. He found, 
that whenstrychnia was introduced into the circulationin so small 
a quantity as not to produce any general symptoms, it did not 
appear to exert the least influence on the heart. 

That the action of strychnia is analogous to that of nux vomica, 
has been proved by the experiments of Segalas,§ Andral,|| Bard- 

* Treatise on Poisons, 3d edit. Edinb. 1836; and Dispensatory, p. 895. 
Edinb. 1842. 

t Essai stir la Methode Endermique, Paris, 1828, 8vo. 

j Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, Apl. 1839, p. 338. 

§ Magendie's Journal de Physiologie, ii. 4. 

II Ibid. Juillet, 1823. 






STRYCHNIA. 549 

sley,* Redlich, Sandras, Liiders, Hennemann, and numerous 
others.t It affects especially the spinal marrow, and the gangli- 
onic system — less strikingly the brain; small doses excite the 
ganglionic system; larger, the spinal marrow ; consequently, it 
has been imagined, that it might be an efficacious remedy in 
nervous diseases, which are dependent upon spasmodic disorder 
in the ganglionic system, or on diminished sensibility and torpor 
of the nerves of motion. 

The following are the effects observed by Oppler from the in- 
ternal use of nitrate of strychnia : — a sensation of warmth and 
itching in the epigastrium : eructation ; nausea ; vertigo ; slight 
excitement like that of intoxication ; great vividness, with more 
or less confusion of mind ; dull pain over the eyes ; spots before 
the same ; dilatation of the pupils ; diplopia ; tinnitus aurium ; 
difficult articulation and deglutition ; slight trismus : sense of for- 
mication in the paralysed parts ; convulsive motions or twitch- 
ings, at times, in those parts ; at others, over the whole body, 
similar to electric shocks ; tremors of the muscles ; occasionally, 
violent spasms ; tetanus ; asthma ; palpitations ; febrile heat ; 
general sweating ; prostration ; pale or livid countenance ; pulse 
sometimes full and frequent, at others small and contracted ; great 
sensibility over the whole body ; involuntary laughter, succeeded 
always by difficulty of breathing and convulsions. The sleep was 
generally interrupted by convulsions ; the secretion of urine scanty, 
and occasionally suppressed. These symptoms came on gradu- 
ally, and disappeared in the same manner, when the dose was 
moderate, in the course of some hours. Large doses induce 
death by a sudden shock to the nervous system ; smaller doses, 
when continued for a long time, may destroy by causing apo- 
plexy, of which Oppler saw many examples in his experiments 
on animals.^ 

Dr. Blumhardt§ has published a case of poisoning by strych- 
nia, which occurred to him in Stuttgart. He was called to a 
young man, seventeen years old, who had swallowed two scru- 
ples of strychnia after dinner. A short time afterwards, expe- 
riencing great restlessness, he repented of what he had done, and 
immediately took four grains of tartar emetic, which excited 
considerable vomiting. When the physician arrived, about a 
quarter of an hour after he had taken the strychnia, he found the 
patient on his back in bed, with his head thrown back, rigid 

* Hospital Facts and Observations, Illustrative of the Efficacy of Strychnia, 
Brucia, &c. Lond. 1830. 

f Petref|uin, Gazette Mddicale de Paris, No. 44, Nov. 1838. 

£ See, also, Tanquerel des Planches, Essai sur la Paralysie de Plomb. 
Paris, 1834. 

$ Medicinisch. Correspondenz-Blatt, in Encyclog. des Sciences Mcdicales, 
Sept. 1837. 



550 STRYCHNIA. 

and incapable of motion, but with a constant inclination to turn 
towards the right side. He could only move the upper limbs 
freely. The countenance was pale and haggard ; the tempera- 
ture of the skin natural, and the pulse quick and contracted. 
Consciousness remained unaffected ; the speech was rendered 
difficult by an occasional contraction of the muscles that move 
the lower jaw ; but it could not properly be said to be inter- 
rupted ; deglutition was untouched. The trismus, however, be- 
came more and more frequent and violent, and the respiration 
thereby unequal and suspended ; the pulse was small, suppressed 
and quick. The remedies — employed to save him — as the 
tincture of iodine and the acetate of morphia, were of no avail. 
With the periodical trismus was now associated spasmodic agi- 
tation of the whole body, to which — after a short interval — suc- 
ceeded opisthotonos with violent symptoms of suffocation ; the 
trismus attained the highest degree, and the upper extremities 
were deprived of the influence of volition. With the increase of 
the general tonic spasm, the respiration was always more diffi- 
cult and oppressed, and for a time wholly ceased; the pulsation 
of the heart and arteries became irregular, less distinct, and at 
length imperceptible. In this condition the skin acquired a bluish 
appearance ; the countenance was puffed, and of a violet hue ; 
the lips dark blue, the neck swollen, the eyes protruded, fixed 
and directed towards the right side ; the pupils enlarged and 
immovable, and the conjunctiva injected. At this period, the 
patient was entirely unconscious ; but from this condition he 
awoke once, and all the symptoms became mitigated ; during 
this remission, the muscles, influenced by the spinal marrow, 
remained cramped, except the upper extremities, which could 
be moved voluntarily. In a quarter of an hour, the tetanic 
attack returned in its violence, with intense commotion of the 
whole body ; this ended in asphyxia, from which he again re- 
covered to consciousness. The same thing happened in a third 
attack. In the fourth, he succumbed under the power of the 
poison. The whole scene, from the taking of the poison to the 
occurrence of death, lasted an hour and a half. 

During the last attack, as doubt existed whether he were really 
dead, the median vein of the left arm, which was turgid, was 
opened, and after the vessel was emptied of its thick, black 
blood, which resembled that of an animal, several bubbles of air, 
from the size of a pea to that of a small cherry, were forced out 
by pressure. 

The dissection was made twenty hours after death. In spite 
of the elevated summer heat there were no signs of putrefaction : 
the whole of the body was uncommonly rigid. The muscles of 
the back were of a brownish-red colour, almost like that of 
smoked meat. On opening the spinal canal, a considerable 



STRYCHNIA. 551 

quantity of thick, dark coloured blood, like that of an animal, 
flowed out. 

The plexus venosi spinales were turgid with the same kind of 
blood, as well as the vessels of the pia mater. Under this mem- 
brane, especially in the cervical portion, some watery fluid was 
effused. The upper portions of the spinal marrow were soft, 
even pappy in some places, but lower down it became gradually 
harder. Within the cavity of the cranium, the same turgid con- 
dition of vessels existed; all the veins of the dura mater appeared 
as if injected ; the veins of the pia mater were likewise engorged ; 
and the whole mass of the brain indicated an unusual supply of 
blood, so that the cortical substance appeared quite blue. The 
cerebellum was softer than usual. In the cavities of the abdomen 
and thorax, a striking poverty of blood was perceptible. The 
heart was shrunken and empty, as well as the large vessels of the 
thorax. The stomach was full of solid food, which appeared to 
have undergone no change ; its bloodvessels contained a consi- 
derable quantity of blood, and the mucous coat exhibited marked 
redness over its whole surface ; but this was especially concen- 
trated about the cardia and the fundus ; the small intestine was 
likewise redder than natural, as is commonly the case in those 
who have died whilst digestion was going on. 

The liver was tolerably supplied with blood ; the gall-bladder 
empty. 

When strychnia is used endermically, as is not unfrequently 
done, the course of the phenomena is somewhat different. G. 
H. Richter employed it in this way in many cases of hemiple- 
gia, in one of which it occasioned symptoms of actual poisoning. 
When the dose exceeded a quarter of a grain, a feeling arose 
in the part to which it was applied as if needles were run into 
the skin ; this gradually spread over the whole limb; the temper- 
ature of the body was augmented ; the pulse was quickened, full 
and hard; the breathing constrained ; pain was experienced in 
the same side of the head ; the secretion of urine was increased, 
and a general perspiration broke out, which persisted for about 
an hour, after which the pricking of the surface, and the excite- 
ment of the vessels ceased. To these symptoms — and seldom 
later than two hours after the application of the agent — convul- 
sive movements succeeded in the paralysed limbs like those in- 
duced by electricity, which augmented in violence and frequency 
with the increase of the dose, — being strongest and most severe 
during the night, at which time the limbs were moved involun- 
tarily. When awake, a feeling of stiffness was experienced in 
all the limbs, which passed off when they were used. On diges- 
tion, defecation, and the appetite, the nitrate of strychnia seldom 
exerted any influence. Only in one case — in which no effects 
were induced on the nervous system, when the dose was gra- 



552 STRYCHNIA. 

dually carried to three grains — was obstinate constipation pro- 
duced. In general, when it was begun with in the dose of one- 
eighth of a grain, and on the next day one-fourth was given, on 
the third day one-half, and afterwards the dose was increased 
daily by one-fourth of a grain, until one and a quarter were 
given, — the following unpleasant symptoms supervened. The 
patient experienced twitchings earlier than before, and first in 
the paralysed limbs. As these became, from minute to minute, 
more violent, a penetrating pain was felt in the occiput, with 
vertigo and tinnitus aurium. The twitchings now extended 
over the affected arm, and, subsequently, to the sound side, 
whereupon the vertigo and headach augmented, and insensi- 
bility, with difficult and stertorous breathing, ensued. The 
pulse now became very full, hard, slow, and intermitting ; the 
countenance bluish-red and turgid ; the paralysed lower extre- 
mities of a marbled blue ; the pupils very much dilated, and the 
mouth open, — the convulsions being occasionally so strong as to 
toss him to and fro on the bed. When these phenomena de- 
clared themselves, Richter removed the dressing from the sur- 
face, which appeared inflamed, and still contained a quantity of 
strychnia, that had not been absorbed ; the parts were then 
washed, and sprinkled immediately — according to Lembert's 
and Lesieur's recommendation — with two grains of the acetate 
of morphia ; the face was washed with cold water, the soles of 
the feet brushed, and other excitants administered.* 

Dr. Christisont considers, that strychnia is not a cumulative 
poison ; yet the Author has seen one or two cases, which would 
favour the contrary opinion.^ 

•Morphia appears to be the most powerful antidote : under its 
use, the dangerous symptoms rapidly disappear, consciousness 
returns; the patient sleeps for some hours, and a general perspi- 
ration breaks out, after which he awakes with a feeling of dul- 
lness, and with stiffness of the limbs, which soon, however, vanish. 
In respect to the topical application of strychnia by the endermic 
method, A. L. Richter§ remarks, that the preparations of strych- 
nia produce much more powerful local effects than those of mor- 
phia ; they maintain the abraded portions of the skin in an in- 
flamed state, promote suppuration more than morphia, and oc- 
casion violent itching a 
were run into the skin. 

* See some experiments, relative to the action of strychnia on the nervous 
system, by Dr. H. Stannius, in Miiller's Archiv. Heft. ii. 1837; and Brit, and 
For. Med. Review for Jan. 1838, p. 221. 

t Dispensatory, p. 895. Edinb. 1842. 

X See, also, Pereira, Elements of Mat. Med. and Therap. ii. 1310, Lond. 
1842; or Amer. edit, by Dr. Carson^Philad. 1843. 

§ Die Endermatische Methode, u. s. w. Berlin, 1835. 



STRYCHNIA. 553 

Artus recommends, from his investigations, pure baryta {Jletz- 
baryt) as an antidote. It forms an insoluble precipitate with 
strychnia, and he esteems it to be more certain than the tinc- 
tures of iodine and bromine recommended by Donne,* the chlo- 
ride of barium, or the infusions of tar and galls recommended by 
Raspail.t 

The effects, referred to above, were chiefly obtained from the 
administration of th6 nitrate of strychnia, but they may be es- 
teemed applicable to all the preparations of strychnia, as we 
know nothing of any difference in their agency. It is probable, 
however, that the salts of strychnia, owing to their greater solu- 
bility, may have more action than strychnia itself, although the 
muriatic, and acetic, or lactic acids, which are almost always 
present in the stomach, it might be presumed, would readily unite 
with it. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY IN DISEASE. 

The following remarks apply equally to pure strychnia, and 
its salts, and to the alcoholic extract of nux vomica, to which the 
reader is referred, (see page 446,) and which is preferred by 
some.l It has been administered in 

1. Paralysis, especially in that arising from the action of lead, 
in which Bally, Lembert, Bardsley, Andral, Rayer, and Tan- 
querel,§ have employed it beneficially. In paraplegia and he- 
miplegia, it has been prescribed by Lesieur, G-. H. Richter, Rom- 
berg, Bardsley, Bally, Lafaye, Oesterlen, Reinhardt, Heyfelder, 
Faye, Mart, Schaible, Raciborski, A. T. Thomson,|| Gellie,f Pe- 
trequin,** Toulmouche,tt and numerous others.JJ 

From the results of their observations it would seem, that 
strychnia is most efficacious in paraplegia ; less so in hemiple- 
gia, although it has often been given with advantage in the latter 
affection ; but its administration in hemiplegia requires special 
circumspection, particularly when the paralysis has succeeded 
to apoplexy. §§ 

* Journal de Chirnie Me"d. v. 494, Paris, 1829. 

•j- Nouveau Systeme de Chirnie Orjranique. Paris, 1833. 

% Petrequin, Bulletin General de Therapeutique, Mars, 1840. 

§ Gazette Medicale, pour 1835, p. 383. 

|| London Med. Gaz. April, 1S31. 

\ La Lancette Franchise, Aout 29, 1837. 

** Op. citat. 

\\ Gazette Med. do Paris, No. 5, 1841, and Encycl. des Sciences Mod. Mars, 
1841, p. 438. 

XX Petrequin, Gazette Medicale, Nov. 1838. 

§§ See Bally, Considerations sur la Strychnine, &c. in Bulletin General de 
Therapeutique, Fev. 1838. 
47 



554 STRYCHNIA. 

The results of the recent observations of M. Toulmouche in- 
duce him to believe, that strychnia will only succeed in paralysis 
or other affections " that proceed from some lesion of spinal in- 
nervation, occasioned by excessive masturbation or indulgence 
in venereal pleasures, by the abuse of spirituous or narcotic 
liquors, by the action of the emanations of lead, &c. ;" and that 
it is never successful in paralysis, which is owing to an inflamma- 
tory condition of the brain or spinal marrow. He is of opinion, 
that strychnia has a directly excitant effect upon the spinal 
marrow, and secondarily on the organs that receive their nerves 
from it. 

Romberg affirms, that, as a general rule, in cases of paralysis 
dependent upon disease of the central organs of the nervous sys- 
tem, he has never seen any striking effect from the endermic use 
of strychnia, and that great care is needed lest it should react 
injuriously on the brain. He considers it especially adapted for 
cases of paralysis, that are dependent upon some affection of the 
spinal marrow induced by mechanical concussion ; as well as 
for the local paralysis that succeeds to rheumatism, suppressed 
exanthems, &c. Dr. Pereira* has seen it very serviceable in 
that shaking or trembli?2g action of the muscles, which is pro- 
duced by habitual intoxication. G. H. Richter cured a case of 
aphonia by it, and it has been much used, and successfully, in 
amblyopia and amaurosis, by Short, Liston,f Guthrie, Middle- 
more,! Henderson, Furnari,§ Mart, Petrequin,|| and others. 
Mr. Tyrrell and Mr. Lawrence,1T however, affirm, that they have 
found it inefficacious in amaurosis. In these cases, it is generally 
used endermically on the temporal region. Dr. Stevenson** 
derived benefit from it — when applied in this way — in cases 
of amaurosis of many years' duration. Half a grain was re- 
peated twice a day until tremors of the limbs were produced. 
He employed it in the same manner in other cases of local 
paralysis. In cases of amaurosis, Henderson advises, in addition, 
that a solution of strychnia should be dropped into the eye. 
It has likewise been given successfully in paralysis of the 
bladder by Schaible, Bally, Hennemann, Behrend,tt and others, 
and in paralysis of the facial nerve.%% In two cases of paralysis 

* Medical Gazette, vol. xix. 

f Lnnd. Med. Gaz. v. 541 and 575. 

X Midland Med. and Surg. Reporter, May and August, 1831. 

§ A. Bouchardat, Annuaire de Therap. pour 1841, p. 8. Paris, 1841. 

|| Bulletin General de Therapeutique, Juillet, 1838. 

^ A Treatise on Diseases of the Eye, Amer. edit, by Dr. Hays, p. 519. 
Philad. 1843. 

** Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society of Calcutta, vol. v. 

ft Medicin. Zeitung, Sept. 1837, S. 190. 

XX Dr. O'Brien, Med. Chirurg. Review, and L'Experience, Nov. 1838 ; and 
Beales, New York Journal of Med. and Surg. July, 1839, p. 201. 



STRYCHNIA. 555 

of the rectum in elderly people, accompanying a disordered 
state of the bowels, the Author found the best effects from the 
endermic use of strychnia — in the quantity of a quarter of a 
grain, night and morning, to a blistered surface on the sacrum. 

In high grades of paraplegia, the internal use of the remedy is 
to be preferred, but in general the endermic administration is 
more advisable. 

In paralysis of the limbs, a spot is selected in the vicinity of 
the spinal marrow. 

Strychnia is likewise given in other affections. Very favoura- 
ble reports have been made as to its efficacy in 

2. Neuralgia. Mart found it beneficial in tic douloureux and 
in nervous headach ; Magnus, in a case of neuralgia of the 
arm, and several successful cases have been published by Dr. 
Pidduck.* 

3. Traumatic tetanus. In this disease, it has been recom- 
mended by Liiders. 

4. In Hysteria, Hypochondriasis, and Dyspepsia,\ it has been 
advised by Schmidtmann and Basedow, but morphia appears to 
render more essential service. 

5. In Chorea, Romberg saw good effects from it. It has like- 
wise been advised in epilepsy\ and catalepsy. In a successful 
case related by Dr. Weyland, nitrate of strychnia was taken in 
such quantity as to produce the peculiar tetanic effects of strych- 
nia. Fricke has administered it successfully in — 

6. Syphilitic Osteocopi. It has also been given with benefit 
in cases of 

7. Dysentery and Diarrhoea, by Bardsley, Recamier, Ged- 
dings,§ and others ; and has been used endermically in cholera 
— two or three grains being applied to a blistered surface on the 
nape of the neck. By MM. Dreyfus, Grimaud d' Angers and 
Potton it was given internally in the same affection to allay vo- 
miting : — a quarter to half a grain being added to three ounces 
of water, and prescribed in the dose of a spoonful every hour. j| 
Dr. Ryan!! asserts, that he has repeatedly known a few of the 
pills — the formula for which is given below — check a profuse 
diarrhoea with rice coloured evacuations, and even when the ex- 
tremities were blue in malignant cholera. 

8. Amenorrhea. Of twelve cases of suppressed menstrua- 

* Lond. Med. Gazette, Augr. 7, 1840, p. 759. 

f Dr. Melcombe, in Lond. Med. Gaz. for Mar. 4, 1837, p. 850. 

% Brofferio, in Repertorio Medico-chir. di Torino, 1825, and Revue Medi- 
cale, iv. 488, Paris, 1825; and Weyland, Woc.henschrift fur die gesammte 
Heilkunde, cited in Encyclograph. des Sciences Med. Janvier, 1841, p. 65. 

$ N. American Archives, No. 2, Nov. 1834. 

\ Mcrnt and De Lens, Diet, de Mat. Med. Art. Strychnine. 

T Formulary, 3d edit. p. 335, Lond. 1839. 



556 STRYCHNIA. 

tion, treated by Bardsley, ten were cured, and two relieved. Dr. 
Churchill* had also two cases, in which the cure by it was com- 
plete and permanent. 

Lastly. From its efficacy in analogous affections of the diges- 
tive mucous membrane, Dr. Stokest thinks there is good reason 
to hope, that it may prove useful in bronchitis. It has been 
employed, indeed, in all the cases in which the alcoholic extract 
of nux vomica has been found of service, than which it is of 
course to be more relied upon, in consequence of its greater uni- 
formity ; nux vomica itself being often found unequal. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Pure strychnia is best exhibited internally, in the form of pill, 
or in spirituous solution ; but if a little acid, especially the acetic, 
be added to it, it may be given in watery solution, as in this way 
a salt of strychnia may be formed extemporaneously. The dose 
is from one-sixteenth to one-eighth of a grain, which may be 
gradually increased until a grain is taken. In ordinary cases, it 
will be sufficient to raise the dose to half a grain, two or three 
times a day ; but if any circumstance should arise to cause its 
discontinuance, it ought not to be recommenced in doses as large 
as the last, but with small doses, as at the beginning. In the 
endermic application of the remedy, we sprinkle, twice a day, 
a quarter of a grain on the denuded surface, and slowly increase 
the quantity to half a grain or more should this be necessary. 
If the larger doses do not act more beneficially, it will be advi- 
sable to discontinue the remedy for a few days — after which 
the smaller doses may again exert a signal influence — rather 
than to carry the dose still higher. M. Petrequinf thinks, that 
the endermic use of strychnia frequently fails owing to the vesi- 
cated surface, to which it is applied, becoming covered with a 
layer of coagulable lymph, in consequence of which the strych- 
nia is unable to make its appropriate impression. This layer of 
lymph should be removed as far as possible at each application ; 
and as the vesicated surface daily becomes less and less sensible, 
the dose must be proportionably increased. M. Petrequin re- 
commends, that a third or a fourth of a grain of strychnia should 
be mixed with two or three grains of powdered nux vomica, 
and the compound be sprinkled on the surface ; but it would 
seem to be far preferable to increase the dose of strychnia than 

* Outlines of the Principal Diseases of Females, Dunglison's Amer. Med. 
Library edit., p. 54. Philad. 1839. 

| Treatise on Diseases of the Chest, p. 125, Dublin, 1837, and Amer. Med. 
Library edit., Philad. 1838. 

X Bulletin de Therapeutique, Mars, 1840. 



STRYCHNIA. 557 

to place so much insoluble and irritating powder on the sensitive 
surface. 

Pilnlse strychnia. 

Pills of strychnia. 

R. Strychniae pur. gr. ij. 

Confect. rosae, 3ss. 
Divide in pilulas xxiv. 

Dose. — One to two, morning and evening. Magendie. 

R. Strychnine, gr. j. 

Confect. ros. 5 SS « 

Glycyrrhiz. pulv. J^ss. 
Divide in pilulas xij. 

Dose. — One, night and morning. The quantity may be in- 
creased to four or five daily. Ryan. 

R. Strychniae, gr. ij. 

Extract, valerian, q. s. 
ut riant pil. xxxij. 

Dose. — One, every morning fastingfor five days — afterwards 
one, morning and evening, in torpid amaurosis. Furnari. 

Tinctura strychniae. 

R. Strychniae pur. gr. iij. 

Alcohol, 36° (.837) f.gj. M. 

Dose. — Six to twenty-four drops, twice or thrice a day. 

Magendie. 

Mistnra strychnia. 

Mixture of strychnia. 

{Potion stimulante.) 

R. Aq. destillat. f.,5ij. 
Strychniic, gr. i. 
Sacch. 5'j- 
Acid. acet. gtt. ij. M. 

Dose. — A dessert-spoonful, morning and evening. 

Magendie. 
47* 



55S strychnijE acetas. 

Collyrinm strychnia 

Collyrium of strychnia. 

R. Strychnise,gr. ij. — iv. — vj. — viij. 
Acid. acet. dil. 
Aq. destillat. aa. f.5j. M.- 

Two drops to be let fall into the eye, a few times a day, in 
amaurosis. Henderson. 

Linimentum strychnise. 

Liniment of strychnia. 

R. Strychnise, gr. xxiv. 
6l.olir.gj. M. 

Twelve drops of the oil to be rubbed on the temples four 
times a day in cases of amaurosis. Cnnier. 



CXXXIV. STRYCH'NIiE ACETAS. 

Synonvmes. Strychninae Acetas, Strychnium Aceticum, Acetas Strychnii 

seu Strychnicus, Acetate of Strychnia or Strychnine. 
German. Essigsaures Strychnin, Strychninacetat. 

In addition to the acetate, formed extemporaneously, as men- 
tioned under strychnia, the proper acetate of strychnia has been 
administered, especially by Luders and Fricke. It may be 
made, like the acetate of quinia, from the direct combination of 
strychnia with acetic acid. According to Thenard, it is very 
soluble, and crystallises with difficulty. Even when diluted 
40,000 times, its solution occasions a sense of bitterness on the 
tongue. 

The following formulas have been given by the physicians 
cited. 

Guttae acetatis strychnia;. 

Drops of acetate of strychnia. 

R. Strychnia? acet. gr. iij. 
Alcohol. f.Jj. 
Aq. cinnam. f>3 V U • M. 
Dose. — Five drops, twice a day, gradually increasing the 
dose. Luders. 



STRYCHNIA IODAS. 559 

Tinetnra acetatis strychnia, 

Tincture of acetate of strychnia. 

R. Strychniae acet. gr. iss. 
Alcohol, f.gss. M. 

Dose. — From three or four to twenty or thirty drops, to be 
taken at bed-time, in oases of syphilitic pains of the bones. 

Fricke. 



CXXXV. STRYCH'NIiE FODAS. 

Synonymes. Strychninae Iodas, Strychnina Iodata, Strychnium lodicum, 

Iodas Strychnii seu Strychnicus, Iodate of Strychnia or Strychnine. 
German. Iodsaures Strychnin, Strychninjodat. 



METHOD OF PREPARIM, 

The preparation of this salt, according to Magendie, is easy. 
It is sufficient to add a concentrated solution of iodic acid to 
powdered strychnia ; in a moment, the mass swells up, absorbs 
water, becomes thicker and at times very consistent. It is now 
treated with boiling alcohol, filtered, and left to spontaneous 
evaporation. In this way, beautiful crystals of iodate of strych- 
nia are obtained. The iodic acid ; proper for this preparation, is 
obtained, according to Geiger, in the following manner. Nine 
parts of iodate of baryta are boiled with two parts of oil of 
vitriol, previously diluted with ten times as much water, for 
half an hour. It is then filtered, and evaporated by a gentle 
heat to the consistence of a thin syrup, and is exposed to the air 
for spontaneous evaporation. 

Iodate of strychnia may likewise be formed by double de- 
composition, by mixing a soluble iodate, as iodate of soda, with 
a solution of sulphate or muriate of strychnia. The iodate of 
strychnia is precipitated, which may be treated with boiling 
alcohol, and crystallised as above directed. 

The iodate is of a white colour, and crystallises in beautiful 
prismatic needles : it is but slightly soluble in cold water, but 
more so in boiling water and alcohol. 



560 STRYCHNIiE NITRAS. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

" This salt," says Magendie, " is one of the most active poi- 
sons with which I am acquainted. A single grain is sufficient 
to destroy a strong dog under tetanic symptoms. It acts, like- 
wise, powerfully on the diseased organism. I gave it to seve- 
ral persons with a success which far exceeded my expecta- 
tions. It proved effectual in some old paraplegic affections, 
which had been esteemed incurable, and after all the usual re- 
medies had been administered in vain." 

He gave it in pills, each of which contained one-eighth of a 
grain. One of these was prescribed night and morning, and the 
dose was gradually increased, until ultimately a grain was taken 
in the twenty-four hours. The greatest circumspection was, 
however, necessary in its use. 

Magendie is of opinion, that the Hydriodate of Strychnia, 
Strychnhim Hydroiodicum, Hydriodas seu Iodhydras Strych- 
nii seu Strychnicus ; Germ. Iodwasserstoffsaures Strychnin, 
Iodwasserstoff Strych?iin, might be advantageously introduced 
into medicine. It is prepared by mixing a solution of iodide of 
potassium, with a concentrated solution of acetate of strychnia : 
a white crystalline powder is precipitated, which is soluble in 
alcohol, and is pure hydriodate of strychnia. 

It does not appear to have been as yet used in medicine. 



CXXXVI. STRYCH'NI^ NITRAS. 

Synonymes. Strychninae Nitras, Stryclinium Nitricum, Nitras Strychnii seu 

Strychnicus, Nitrate of Strychnia or Strychnine. 
German. Saltpetersaures Strychnin, Strychnin Nitrat. 

This preparation of strychnia has been more used in Germany 
than any other. It has been received into the Prussian Phar- 
macopoeia, (Landespharmakopbe,) where it is directed to be 
prepared in the following manner : 

METHOD OF PREPARING. 

On eight pounds of nux vomica, sixteen pounds of spirit of 
wine (Kornbranntivein) are poured, and the liquid is distilled 
to one-half. The nux vomica is then freed from the liquor by 
filtering, is dried and reduced to coarse powder. This is digest- 
ed two or three times, with a sufficient quantity of the spirit, 



STRYCHNLE SULPHAS. 561 

and after digestion it is strained. The tinctures are then sub- 
jected to distillation, and what remains is evaporated along with 
the fluid that remained after the boiling ; to this, acetate of lead, 
dissolved in a sufficient quantity of distilled water, is added so 
long as a precipitate falls. The fluid, separated as much aspos- 
sible from the precipitate, by means of the filter, is now evapo- 
rated to one-half, by a gentle heat. When cold, it is mixed with 
two ounces of calcined magnesia, and is suffered to stand for 
three days, when the deposit is separated by the aid of the filter, 
and is washed, and dried. This, after having been rubbed to 
powder, is digested two or three times in alcohol, and the tinc- 
tures are subjected to distillation, until only a few ounces remain. 
The strychnia, which on cooling appears in the retort in the form 
of a white powder, is separated by the filter, washed two or 
three times with rectified spirit of wine diluted with an equal 
quantity of common water, and is neutralised by a proper quan- 
tity of dilute nitric acid. The filtered fluid is evaporated by a 
gentle heat so as to allow the formation of crystals. These crys- 
tals are needle-shaped, colourless, of a silky splendour, and a 
very bitter taste ; they are soluble with difficulty in alcohol, but 
dissolve in ether. 



METHOD OF ADMINISTERING. 

The dose and mode of administering the nitrate of strychnia 
are the same as in the case of pure strychnia. Its endermic 
application will sometimes succeed when the internal adminis- 
tration has been more limited in its results. The experiments 
instituted by Dr. Stannius, and others, and referred to in a former 
page (552), were with nitrate of strychnia. 

Magendie found, in his experiments, that this salt completely 
prevented the coagulation of the blood. * 



CXXXVII. STRYCH'NIiE SULPHAS. 

Synonymes. Strychnina: Sulphas, Strychnium Sulphuricum, Sulphas Strych- 

nii seu Strychnicus, Sulphate of Strychnia or Strychnine. 
German. Schwefelsaures Strychnin, Strychninsulphat. 

The same effects have been observed from this preparation as 
from the others. It is also dispensed in the same forms and doses. 
It may be obtained by the simple union of strychnia with sul- 

* Lemons sur le Sang ; and translation in Lond. Lancet, Jan. 26, 1839, p. 637. 



562 SULPHURIS CARBURETUM. 

j)huric acid. According to Pelletier, 100 parts of the alkaloid 
saturate 10.486 of the acid. It is soluble in less than sixteen 
parts of cold water, and crystallises, when neutral, in transpa- 
rent cubes; when acid, in needles. Its taste is extraordinarily- 
bitter. It is decomposed by every soluble salifiable base. 



CXXXVIII. SUL'PHURIS CARBURETUM. 

Svnonymes. Sulphuretum Carbonii seu Carbonei,Carbonium seu Carboneura 

Sulphuratum, Alcohol Sulpliuris, Bisulphuretum Carbonii, Sulphuret of 

Carbon, Bisulphuret of Carbon, Carburet of Sulphur. 
French. Sulfure de Carbon, Carbure de Soufre, Soufre Carbure, Alcool de 

Soufre. 
German. Schwefelalcohol, Schwefelkohlenstoff, flussiger Kohlenschwefel, 

Kohlensulfurid. 

Carburet of sulphur or sulphuret of carbon was discovered by 
Lampadius in the year 1796. It is a transparent and colourless 
fluid at the ordinary temperature ; has a very penetrating and 
disagreeable odour ; and a taste cooling at first, but afterwards 
burning, acrid, and somewhat aromatic. Its specific gravity is 
1.263. It boils at 134° of Fahrenheit. It is not decomposed at 
the highest temperatures ; but volatilises rapidly in the air, and 
burns readily. It is not soluble in water, but is so in alcohol, 
ether, and in the fixed and volatile oils. Water separates it im- 
mediately from those solutions. It unites intimately with the 
alkalies ; but, of the acids, the aqua regia — which is a mixture 
of the nitric and muriatic acids — alone lays hold of it. It dis- 
solves potassa, camphor, sulphur, and phosphorus. Lampadius, 
in the first instance, regarded sulphuret of carbon as a Compound 
of sulphur and hydrogen; it is now, however, decided, that it 
consists of sulphur and carbon, — according to Vauquelin,in the 
proportion of 85 or 86 to 15 or 14; according to Berzelius, and 
Marcet, of 84.84 to 15.16. 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

The following method is recommended by Mitscherlich :* 
The temperature at which sulphur enters into ebu lition is not 
sufficient to make the two substances combine, but if burning 
coals be placed in contact with vapours of sulphur,the combina- 

* Elemens de Chimie, traduits par M. B. Valerius, i. 156. Bruxelles, 1835. 



SULPHURTS CARBURETTTM. 563 

tion takes place immediately. With this view, a tube of porce- 
lain may be used, or, what is better, one of cast iron, lined inter- 
nally with a coating of clay by running it several times through a 
paste of clay and water, and heating the tube each time. In 
this manner, the crust of dry clay will become strong enough to 
prevent the sulphur from attacking the iron. The tube is then 
filled with strongly calcined coals, and is heated to redness in an 
oblong furnace. One end of the tube is closed by a cork, and a 
small hole is made at the upper part of the tube, through which 
the sulphur is introduced, and which is closed by a plug. The 
other end, which has passed through the furnace, is likewise 
closed by a large cork, traversed by a glass tube. To make the 
stoppers close the tube hermetically, they are boiled with glue. 
The long glass tube passes into a large jar, through a hole in 
which it is adapted hermetically by means of a cork. The ordi- 
nary aperture of the jar is closed by a cork in which a tube is 
fitted hermetically, which passes through the window. At the 
bottom of the jar is contained a little water. The long tube passing 
from the furnace to the jar, may be kept cool by water made to 
drop upon it, or by covering it with v snow or ice. 

When the charcoal is heated to redness, small fragments of 
sulphur are dropped in, from time to time, by means of the aper- 
ture before mentioned, which must be carefully closed each time 
afterwards. The sulphur, in melting, runs towards the hottest 
parts of the tube, to which a slight inclination has been given on 
placing it in the furnace. It enters into ebullition, and is trans- 
formed into sulphureous vapour, which, bypassing over the hot 
coals, combines with them : the sulphuret of carbon, or carburet 
of sulphur, formed, condenses in the long tube, from which it 
runs into the jar, and falls to the bottom of the water. As the 
coal always retains a little hydrogen, the sulphur likewise unites 
with it, to form a gaseous body, which is carried off by the tube 
passing through the window. 

Carburet oi* sulphur is preserved in well-stopped bottles, 
and is covered with about an inch of water, whence it can 
be best obtained for use by means of a small glass or ivory 
syringe. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Carburet of sulphur holds a place amongst the transient or 
diffusible stimulants.* Its most marked effects are said to con- 
sist in its " exciting the function of cutaneous transpiration to 

* Wulzer, Journal de Chimie AI6d. ; and Amer. Journ. Med. Sciences, Nov. 
1831, p. 215. 



564 SULPHTJRIS CARBURETUM. 

copious sweating ; increasing the secretion of urine, elevating 
the temperature of the body, quickening the pulse, and causing 
congestions towards the head and those parts of the body whose 
vitality may have been already somewhat augmented."* Its 
most striking agency is exhibited in the more active exercise of 
the functions of the skin. According to Mansfeld, it acts like- 
wise as an emmenagogue ; but, in this respect, probably only like 
similar excitants. 

On account of its great volatility, it produces on the skin 
the feeling of considerable cold. 

The discoverer of the carburet of sulphur first recommended 
it as a remedial agent.t He particularly advised it, both inter- 
nally and externally, in rheumatic and gouty affections. In 
Freiberg, a mixture of one part of camphor, two of carburet of 
sulphur, and four of alcohol, is a very common external appli- 
cation in rheumatic pains. Kappe found decided advantage 
from it in gout and rheumatism, and Mansfeld and Wutzer, 
resting upon a series of observations, maintain, that in rheuma- 
tism unaccompanied by fever, or where the fever is slight, it ex- 
ceeds every other remedy of the class. Dr. Otto,J of Copenha- 
gen, prescribes four drops of a mixture, composed of one part 
of carburet of sulphur, and four parts of highly rectified spirit 
of wine, to be taken every two hours : and he directs the affect- 
ed parts to be rubbed with an embrocation, composed of one 
part of sulphuret of carbon, and four parts of olive oil. The 
cure, he states, is ordinarily effected in from eight to fifteen 
days. In deep-rooted dyscrasies, however, these gentlemen found 
no advantage from it. On the other hand, in trials at the Ber- 
lin Charity, it was found to be of no avail in chronic rheuma- 
tism, although it was used for a long time, and given in by no 
means small doses. 

Mansfeld, also, employed it in cases of after-pains, rubbed, 
without admixture, on the abdomen ; and he affirms, that good 
effects resulted from it, even when ergot had failed. 

In hysteric fainting, the same gentleman found it very use- 
ful when internally exhibited. Lampadius, likewise, recom- 
mended it in fainting, as well as in asphyxia. Krimer found it 
extremely efficacious in asphyxia from carbonic acid, but he 
frequently thought it necessary to premise bloodletting. In this 
way, he treated eleven cases, and only one — in which apo- 
plexy had already supervened — terminated fatally. The same 

* Riecke, Die neuern Arzneimittel, S. 109 ; and 2te Auflage, S. 166. Stutt- 
gart, 1840. 

f Lampadius, in Bulletin des Sciences Medicales de Ferussac, xi. 315. 

X Annales de Chimie Medicale, and Araer. Journal of the Med. Sciences, 
for Nov. 1836, p. 222. 






STJLPHTJRIS CARBTJRETUM. 565 

physician exhibited it in some cases of drunkenness, attended 
with loss of consciousness, and found its effects very beneficial. 
He gave it with great advantage once in a case of goitre ; 
and, in incarcerated hernia, no agent, he says, facilitates so 
much the taxis as the cold produced by dropping carburet of 
sulphur on the tumour.* Lampadius found, that slight burns 
were instantaneously cured by it. Clarus recommends it in hy- 
pertrophy of the coats of the stomach, and in contraction of 
the oesophagus — administered according to the formula given 
below. Every thing, indeed, says Riecke, encourages its further 
trial as a remedial agent.t 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Internally, carburet of sulphur may be given in doses of 
from one drop to four, every five or ten minutes, in cases of faint- 
ing and asphyxia ; but where such a rapid analeptic agency 
is not demanded, it may be given every two or three hours. It 
may be administered dropped on sugar or in a spoonful of su- 
gared water or barley water. Clarus thinks it is best given in 
cow's milk. 

Externally, it is either applied pure, when a rapid develop- 
ment of cold is needed — as in cases of burns and incarcer- 
ated hernia — or dissolved in alcohol or oil. 



Guttse sulphuris carbnreti. 

Drops of carburet of sulphur. 

R. Sulphur, carbur. f.Jij. 
jEther. sulphur. f-5J. M. 

Dose. — A few drops on sugar. Lampadius. 

R. Sulphur, carbur. f.^j. 
Alcohol. f.3ss. M. 

Dose. — Four to six drops, every two hours, in rheumatism. 

Wutzer. 

R. Sulphur, carbur. f.^j. 
Alcohol, f.^ij. M. 

Dose. — Five, ten, or fifteen drops, three times a day, in cases 
of rheumatism. Wutzer. 

* Journ. de Pharmacie, and Amer. Journal of Pharmacy, ix. 264. 
f Die neuern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. S. 110. 
48 



566 SULPHURIS CARBURETUM. 

Mistura sulphuris carbureti. 

Mixture of carburet of sulphur. 

R. Sulphur, carbur. 9j. 
Lact. vaccin. f.^vj. 
Sacch. 5U- M. 

Dose. — A table-spoonful, four times a day, or oftener. 

Clarus. 

Embrocatio snlphuris carbureti. 

Embrocation of carburet of sulphur. 

R. Sulphur, carbur. gss. 

Olei amygd. dulc. ^j. M. 

To be rubbed in, in cases of old gouty nodes. 

Mansfeld, and Otto* 

R. Sulphur, carbur. f.3 U - 
01. oliv. seu 
Linim. ammon. camphor, f.gij. M. 

Wutzer. 



To be rubbed in 


, in cases of rheumatism. 


R. 


Camphor. 3'j. 


Solve in 








Sulphur. 


carbur. f.^ss. 


Adde 








Alcohol. 


f.gj. M. 



To be used in friction, in cases of rheumatism, and especially 
in rheumatic odontalgia. Lampadius. 

* Bibliothek for Laeger, 1835, and Brit, and For. Med. Review, July, 1836, 
p. 252. 



STJLPHURIS IODIDUM. 567 



CXXXIX. SULTHURIS IO'DIDUM. 

Synonymes. Sulphuris Ioduretum, Sulphur Iodatum, Ioduret, or Iodide of 

Sulphur. 
French. Soufre Iodur£, Iodure de Soufre. 
German. Iodschwefel, Iodinschwefel, Schwefeliodiire. 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

Iodide of sulphur is prepared by heating slightly a mixture 
of four parts of iodine, and one of sublimed sulphur. The ex- 
cess of iodine is driven off, and the iodide of sulphur remains as 
a grayish-black mass, very deliquescent, and readily decomposed 
by water. 

M. G. Van Melekebeke,* has recently proposed the following 
form : — Take of Iodine, two parts ; Washed sulphur, one part. 
Bruise them together, and introduce the mixture into a glass 
tube, pressing it down until the tube is well filled ; then seal 
hermetically. Heat at first gently, until the mixture begins to 
become of a darker colour; then augment the heat so as to fuse 
the iodide ; keep it for some time in this state, and turn the tube 
constantly, that the action may be uniform ; remove it from the 
fire, and shake it until the iodide begins to congeal, and until 
vapours of iodine no longer form ; open the tube, and compress 
again the iodide, in order to have it in fine cylinders. M. Van 
Melekebeke recommends this as a very expeditious process, and 
one which enables the pharmacien to prepare the iodide in very 
small quantity. The committee of the Societe des Sciences 
M&dicales et Naturelles de Malines approve of the process, but 
suggest, that the proportion of iodine to sulphur should be three 
to one. 

The following form for its preparation has been introduced 
into the last edition of the Pharmacopoeia of theUnited States : — 
Take of Iodine, 3iv.; Sulphur, 3j. Rub the iodine and sulphur 
together in a glass, porcelain, or marble mortar, until they are 
thoroughly mixed. Put the mixture into a matrass ; close the 
orifice loosely, and apply a gentle heat so as to darken the mass 
without melting it. When the colour has become uniformly 
dark throughout, increase the heat so as to melt the iodide; then 
incline the matrass in different directions, in order to return 
into the mass any portion of iodine which may have condensed 
on the inner surface of the vessel : lastly, allow the matrass to 
cool, break it, and put the iodide into bottles, which are to be 
well stopped. 

* Archives de la Mcdecine Beige, Mars, 1842, p. 307. 



568 STXLPHURIS IODIDUM. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Biett has used this agent in squamous, pustular, and papular 
diseases of the skin. It has been found especially effective in 
psoriasis, in the form of friction. Patients, who had been long 
affected with diseases of this kind, which had resisted every other 
remedy, were cured in four or five months by iodide of sulphur 
alone. To prevent relapses, Biett advises that the frictions should 
be continued after the eruptions have scaled off. He found it 
equally efficacious in the lepra vulgaris of Willan ; and in acne — 
the gut ta rosacea of Alibert — when the inflammation of the skin 
had passed away. Even acne indurata was often completely 
cured by it.* He found it also beneficial in inveterate porrigo 
of the scalpA At times, after the rubbing, a diffuse red inflam- 
mation of the skin arises, with subsequent desquamation ; and, in 
particular cases, the inflammation extends even to the subjacent 
cellular membrane. In old standing lepra, RayerJ prefers it for 
external use to calomel and white precipitate ; and he ranks it 
highly, with the iodides of mercury, for the cure of lupus non 
exedens ; and by Dr. Volmar§ it has been used, with great suc- 
cess, in herpes pustulosus labialis. 

Iodide of sulphur is likewise extolled by Lugol as a very 
active therapeutical agent. Cless affirms, that in chronic squa- 
mous affections of the ski?i, especially in psoriasis, he has em- 
ployed it with advantage, but he was not able to cure lepra vul- 
garis with it. 

It has been strongly recommended in Tinea capitis, in the 
proportion of ten grains of the iodide to an ounce of lard. A 
writer, in an English periodica^ affirms, that he was induced to 
make trial of it in some obstinate cases, and was much astonished 
at the remarkable power it possessed over the disease. He 
rubbed it on the head, night and morning, and increased the 
strength of the ointment according as the affected part was able 
to bear the stimulus, until the iodide bore the proportion of half 
a dram to the ounce of lard or spermaceti cerate. 

* See, also, Rayer, Traite Thecrique et Pratique des Maladies de la Peau ; 
and Copland, Dictionary of Practical Medicine, Art. Jlcne. 

f Cazenave et Schedel, Maladies de la Peau, p. 219 ; and Cogswell on 
Iodine, p. 120. Edinb. 1837. 

X Diseases of the Skin, p. 634. 

§ Die neuesten Entdeckung. in d. Mat. Med.; cited by Pereira, Elements 
of Materia Medica, ii. 477, 2d edit. Lond. 1842 ; or Amer. edit, by Dr. Car- 
son, Philad. 1843. 

|| Lond. Med. Gazette, for Sept. 9, 1837, p. 879. See, also, M. Cazenave, 
cited in Amer. Journ. Med. Sciences/Oct. 1841, p. 460. and Dr. W. Davidson, 
Lond. and Edinb. Monthly Journ. of Med. Sciences, Dec. 1841. 



UREA. 569 

The inhalation of the vapour of this substance has been em- 
ployed in humoral asthma, by Dr. Copland,* with temporary 
benefit, and fumigations of iodine and sulphur have been used 
advantageously in certain atonic ulcers, and chronic cutaneous 
diseases.^ With this view, the sulphur and iodine may be com- 
bined extemporaneously, — say four parts of iodine to one part 
of sulphur. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Ungnentum sulphuris iodidi. 

Ointment of iodide of sulphur. 

R. Sulphur, iodid.^j. — Jss. 

Adipis, §j. M. et fiat unguentum. 

Biett, — Rayer. 






CXL. URE'A. 

Synonvmes. Ureum, Uricum, Nephrine, Nephrin. 
French. Uree, Extrait Savonneux de PUrine. 
German. Harnstoff. 

This immediate principle of the urine of man and quadrupeds 
was discovered in an impure state by Rouelle, in 1773; and 
since then it has been studied by Cruickshanks, Fourcroy and 
Vauquelin,Berzelius, Proust, and Liebig more especially.^ 



METIIOD OF PREPARING. 

Urea is obtained by placing a mixture of equal volumes of 
urine, reduced to the consistence of syrup, and nitric acid at 20° 
in a refrigerative bath ; by which means crystallised nitrate of 
urea is precipitated. On decomposing this — washed in the cold 
and dissolved in water — by carbonate of potassa, reducing it 
almost to dryness, and treating the residue by alcohol at 40°, 

* Diet, of Practical Medicine, Art. Asthma. 

f London Lancet, vol. 1, 1838, and Encyclographie des Sciences Medicales, 
Aout, 1838. 

X Annales de Cliimie et de Physique, x. 369, and Murat and De Lens, Art. 
Utfe. 

4S* 



570 UREA. 

which takes up the urea, crystals may be obtained by evapora- 
tion, which may subsequently be procured colourless by the 
agency of animal charcoal. 

M. Henry,* who was not satisfied with the scanty product 
yielded by this process, recommends the following: — Add to 
fresh urine a slight excess of subacctafe of lead ; a precipitate is 
thus formed, which consists of oxide of lead united to the various 
acids of the urine, together with the mucus, and a great part of 
the animal matter; the decanted liquid is then treated with sul- 
phuric acid in slight excess to separate the lead, and afterwards, 
in the progress of the evaporation, to decompose the acids of 
soda and lime, that may have been formed. After having sepa- 
rated the white precipitate, concentrate rapidly over a steady 
fire, adding a portion of animal charcoal during the ebullition. 
When the whole has become a clear syrup, pass it through linen 
of close texture, and then reduce it one-third by evaporation. 
On cooling, the liquid is converted into a yellow mass, crystal- 
lised in needles, formed of a great proportion of urea and some 
salts. The crystals, being drained and pressed, are added to 
those obtained from the mother waters treated in a similar man- 
ner. They are next treated with a very small quantity of car- 
bonate of soda, with the view of separating any remaining ace- 
tate of lime, and then digested in alcohol of 3S° to 40°. The 
alcoholic solution being filtered, and the alcohol separated by 
distillation, the urea remains, which may be crystallised afresh 
from water, if necessary.! 

Urea, thus obtained, is in silky or prismatic needles, very 
soluble, and of a cooling taste. 

The following improved method of preparation has been pro- 
posed by Prof. Liebig.J Twenty-eight parts of ferrocyanuret of 
potassium perfectly dried are mixed with fourteen parts of per- 
oxide of manganese, both being reduced to as fine a powder as 
possible; the mixture is then heated on an iron plate, not in a 
crucible, over a coal fire to a feeble red heat. At this tempera- 
ture it inflames, and is gradually extinguished. By shaking it 
several times at intervals, it is prevented from becoming agglu- 
tinated, and the access of air is facilitated. The mass on cooling 
is treated with cold water, and the liquor is mixed with twenty 
parts and a half of dry sulphate of ammonia of commerce, pre- 
pared by saturating sulphuric acid with carbonate of ammonia, 
and evaporating it to dryness. It is well to put to one side the 

* Journal de Pharmacie, xi. 161, Paris, 1829. 

f Manual of Materia Medica and Pharmacy ; by MM. H. M. Edwards and 
P. Vavaseur, p, 231. Philad. 1829. 

\ Annalen der Chimie und Pharmacie B. xxxviii.; and Journal de 
Pharmacie, Aout, 1841, p. 502. 



UREA. 571 

first concentrated washings afforded by the ferrocyanuret of 
potassium; and to dissolve in the last washings, in the cold, the 
sulphate of ammonia, and to mix them with the first. Com- 
monly, an abundant precipitate of sulphate of potassa forms 
immediately. The supernatant liquid is poured off, and eva- 
porated in a salt water bath, or rather in a warm place, — .care 
being taken to prevent ebullition. Fresh crystalline plates of 
sulphate of potassa are deposited, and the liquor is decanted as 
far as possible. The decanted liquor is then evaporated to dry- 
ness, and the residuum is treated with boiling alcohol of eighty 
to ninety per cent. This dissolves the urea, which crystallises 
by the cooling and evaporation of the alcohol, whilst the sul- 
phates do not dissolve^ 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

The experiments of M. Segalas have established, that urea is 
devoid of any noxious action on animals into whose veins it has 
been injected, and, consequently, that we cannot ascribe the se- 
rious symptoms to it, which arise from the absorption of urine 
in certain morbid cases. They demonstrate farther, what has 
been confirmed by the trials of Fouquier, that urea is a diuretic, 
and, therefore, might be useful in dropsy : the latter gentleman 
employed it, also, but unsuccessfully, in diabetes.* Laennec 
used it with advantage in a case of dropsy. According to Prof. 
Fee,t urea is received into the lists of the materia medica in the 
Batavian Pharmacopoeia, and in some others less known. It 
has also been admitted into the French Pharmacopoeia. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Urea has been given in solution in distilled water, sweetened, 
in the dose of twenty-four to thirty grains, and even as high as 
several drams, in the day. 

* Journal de Physiol, de Magendie, ii. 344, and Formulaire pour la Prepa- 
ration, &c, de plusiers nouveaux Medicameris. 

| Cours d'Hist. Naturelle Pharm. ii. 7G4 : cited in Merat and De Lens, Diet, 
de Mat. M6d. Art. Uree. 



572 VERATRIA. 



CXLI. VERATRIA. 

Svnonymes. Veratrina, Veratrinum, Veratrium, Veratrine. 

French. Veratrine. 

German. Veratrine, Niesswurzstoff. 

This alkaloid, which was discovered in 1819, by MM. Pelle- 
tier and Caventou,* and almost at the same time by Meissneiyl" 
is commonly prepared from the seeds of veratrum sabadilla — 
Sabadilla or Cevadilla, of the Pharmacopoeia of the United 
States. It is contained in several of the plants belonging to the 
family Colchicacese. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

Cevadilla is repeatedly treated with boiling alcohol. The 
tinctures, filtered, when almost boiling, allow whitish flakes of 
wax to be deposited on cooling; the dissolved matters, brought 
to the consistence of an extract,are now dissolved in cold ivater, 
and filtered, whereby a small quantity of fatty matter remains 
on the filter. The solution is then slowly evaporated, when a 
yellowish orange-coloured precipitate is formed, which possesses 
the characters of the colouring matter found in almost all woody 
vegetables. On adding a solution of acetate of lead to the still 
deeply coloured liquid, a new and very abundant yellow preci- 
pitate is thrown down, which can be separated by means of the 
filter. The liquor, now nearly colourless, contains, besides other 
substances, acetate of lead, which had been added in excess ; 
this is separated by means of a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen : 
the liquor is then filtered, and concentrated by evaporation ; 
treated by magnesia, and again filtered. The magnesian preci- 
pitate is digested in boiling alcohol, and on evaporating the 
alcoholic liquors, a pulverulent, extremely acrid matter is ob- 
tained, which possesses all the properties of the alkalies. It 
appears at first yellowish; but, by solutions in alcohol, and sub- 
sequent precipitations, caused by pouring water into the alcoho- 
lic solutions, it is obtained in the form of a very white and per- 
fectly inodorous powder.J 

Veratria has been received into the London and United States§ 

* Annales de Chimie et de Physique, xiv. 69. 
t Gilbert's Annalen der Physik, lxv. 335. 

X Magendie's Formulaire pour la Preparation, &c, de plusieurs nouveaux 
Medicamens. 
\ Pharm. of the United States, p. 237, Phila. 1842. 



VERATRIA. 573 

Pharmacopoeias.* In these it is directed to be prepared as 
follows: — Take of Cevadilla, bruised, two pounds; Alcohol, 
three gallons; Diluted sulphuric acid, Solution of ammonia, 
Purified animal charcoal, Magnesia, each a sufficient quantity. 
Boil the cevadilla in a gallon of the alcohol, in a retort with a 
receiver attached, for an hour, and pour off the liquor. To the 
residue add another gallon of the alcohol, together with the 
portion recently distilled, again boil for an hour, and pour off 
the liquor. Repeat the boiling a third time with the remaining 
alcohol, and with that distilled in the previous operation. Press 
the cevadilla, mix and strain the liquors, and by means of a 
water bath distil off the alcohol. Boil the residue three or four 
times in water acidulated with sulphuric acid, mix and strain the 
liquors, and evaporate to the consistence of syrup. Add Mag- 
nesia in slight excess, shake the mixture frequently, then express, 
and wash what remains. Repeat the expression and washing 
two or three times, and, having dried the residue, digest it with 
a gentle heat several times in alcohol, and strain after each 
digestion. Distil off the alcohol from the mixed liquors, boil the 
residue for fifteen minutes in water with a little sulphuric acid and 
purified animal charcoal, and strain. Having thoroughly washed 
what remains, mix the washings with the strained liquor, evapo- 
rate with a moderate heat to the consistence of syrup, and then 
drop in as much solution of ammonia as may be necessary to 
precipitate the veratria. Lastly, separate and dry the preci- 
pitate. 

The following is the rationale of this process. The cevadilla 
gives up its veratria united with a vegetable acid to the alcohol; 
and when the alcoholic extract is treated with water and sul- 
phuric acid, an impure solution of sulphate of veratria is ob- 
tained. The magnesia decomposes this, setting free the veratria, 
which is taken up by alcohol. The alcohol is then distilled off, 
and the extract is boiled in water with sulphuric acid and animal 
charcoal : the acid unites with the veratria, whilst the charcoal 
abstracts the colouring matter. Ammonia, added to the strained 
solution, unites with the sulphuric acid, and the veratria is pre- 
cipitated.! 

Veratria — commercial or medicinal veratria — as prepared 
by the last process, is pulveruleDt, of a grayish-white colour, in- 
odorous, and of a bitter acrid taste, causing a sensation of tingling 
with numbness in the tongue. Veratria is scarcely at all soluble 
in cold water; but boiling water dissolves one-thousandth part 



* For M. Riprhini's method of obtaining whnt M. Soubeiran calls " medicinal 
veratrine," see Journal de Pharmacie, Oct. 1837. 

f Pereira, Elements of Mat. .Med. and Therap. 2d edit. ii. 9G1 ; orAmer. edit, 
by Dr. Carson, Philad. 1843. 



574 



VERATRIA. 



of its weight, and becomes sensibly acrid. It is very soluble in 
ether, and still more so in alcohol. It is not soluble in alkalies, 
but is so in all the vegetable acids: with these it forms uncrys- 
tallisable salts, which, on evaporation, present the appearance 
of gum. The sulphate alone affords rudiments of crystals, when 
its acid is in excess. Nitric acid combines with it; but, if added 
in excess, it does not colour it red, as in the case of morphia, 
brucia, and impure strychnia, but very rapidly resolves the 
vegetable substance into its elements, and gives rise to a yellow 
detonating matter. 

Veratria has an alkaline reaction, When exposed to heat, it 
liquefies at a temperature of 122° Fahrenheit, and has then a 
waxy appearance. On cooling, it forms a translucent mass, 
having the appearance of amber. When distilled on the naked 
fire, it swells up, is decomposed, and forms water, much oil, and 
leaves behind a bulky coal. 

According to Couerbe,* when prepared in the modes above 
mentioned, it still contains several other substances, sabadi/lina, 
vera trin, gum resin of sabadilla, and a black, greasy substance, 
which unites the other matters, and conceals their properties. 

These may be separated from each other by the successive 
action of water, ether and alcohol, as in the following table : 

f 1. Sabadillina, which 

• !■..,.,. crystallises on cooling. 

yieldsto boiling water ^ 2 Lin of veratriaMt 



Commercial 
veratria 



insoluble in 
water . . 



boiling 



in the cold solution. 

3. Veratria, soluble in 
ether. 

4. Gum resin of veratria, 
insoluble in ether, but 
soluble in alcohol. 



On account of its very high price, and the want of well de- 
fined external characters, the veratria of the shops is said to be 
very subject to adulteration ; and there would not seem to be 
any good criterion for ascertaining its degree of purity.t 

Simon, an apothecary of Berlin, has affirmed, that he has 
found two alkaloids in veratrum album ; one of which possesses 
the property of being precipitated from its solution in acetic or 
phosphoric acid by sulphuric acid and its salts, like baryta; 
hence he has given it the name barytin.% 



* Annales de Chimie et de Physique, ii. 308. 
f Christison, Dispensatory, p. 806, Edinb. 1842. 

| Pharmaceut. Centralblatt. 1837, p. 191, and Medicinische Annalen B. iv. 
H. i. S.9. Heidelb. 1838. 



VERATRIA. 575 



EFFECTS ON THE ANIMAL ECONOMY. 

Regarding the effects of veratria on animals, Magendie* has 
the following remarks : — A very small quantity of acetate of 
veratria, placed in the nostrils of a dog, instantly excited violent 
sneezing, which continued for a long time. One or two grains, 
placed in the mouth, immediately occasioned profuse ptyalism. 
When a small quantity was introduced into any part of the intes- 
tinal canal, and the body was opened to notice its effects, the 
intestine was observed to be much indurated, and to relax and 
contract alternately for a certain length of time. The part of the 
mucous membrane, with which the veratria is made to come in 
contact, is inflamed ; the irritation spreads, and vomiting and 
purging are excited. In much stronger doses, the circulation 
is accelerated, as well as the respiration, and tetanus supervenes, 
soon followed by death. The effects are still more rapid, if one 
or two grains be thrown into the cavity of the pleura, or tunica 
vaginalis. In less than ten minutes, death occurs, preceded by 
tetanic convulsions. The same quantity, thrown into the jugular 
vein, induced tetanus and death in a few seconds. Dissection 
showed, that, even in this case, the veratria had acted on the 
intestinal canal, the mucous membrane of which was found in- 
jected. The lungs, also, exhibited traces of inflammation and 
engorgement. 

Veratria, in large doses, would, doubtless, exhibit the same 
effects on the human organism. The taste is very acrid, but 
without bitterness : it excites a copious flow of saliva, even when 
a small quantity only has been introduced into the mouth. Al- 
though it has no smell, it must not be brought too close to the 
nose, when in the state of powder, as it occasions, even in very 
minute quantity, violent sneezing, which may prove dangerous. 
A quarter of a grain immediately induces copious evacuations, 
and, in a somewhat larger dose, more or less violent vomiting. 

According to Tumbull, who has immoderately extolled this 
remedy, its effect is very different, according as it is exhibited 
internally, or externally. Externally, it may be applied for weeks 
and months, without the supervention of any of the effects that 
succeed its internal administration. Exhibited in this way, it 
diminishes internal nervous excitement, assuages pain, but does 
hot act on the intestinal canal. In dropsical cases, it is stated 
to be one of the greatest promoters of the urinary secretion that 
we possess. The part of the skin on which it is rubbed, either 

* Journal do Physiolorjie Experiment, i. 5G ; and Formulaire pour la Prepa- 
ration, &e., de plusieurs M<:dicamens. 



576 VERATRIA. 

in solution or ointment, even when the friction has been con- 
tinued for a long time, exhibits no evidence of irritation : when, 
however, the dose of veratria has attained a certain extent, the 
patients feel a considerable degree of heat, and a kind of pricking 
sensation in the rubbed part, whence it may be concluded, that 
the veratria is active, pure and genuine : under a more prolonged 
use of the remedy, this feeling of warmth and pricking extends 
over the surface of the whole body ; and, in some cases, involun- 
tary twitchings have been observed in the muscles of the mouth 
and eyelids. These symptoms, however, pass off, when the 
frictions are discontinued for a day or two. Only in a few cases, 
according to Turnbull, was any eruption induced by its applica- 
tion. The endermic use of the remedy always, however, ex- 
cited so much irritation as to prevent its repetition. 

Thus much for Turnbull : — His views and experience have by 
no means been confirmed by the generality of observers. The 
external application of veratria cannot always be used without 
local irritation ensuing. An English physician, labouring under 
rheumatism of the arm, rubbed upon it an ointment composed of 
twenty grains of veratria to an ounce of lard ; and, immediately 
afterwards, so much pain was induced in the part, that he was 
obliged to take opium to obtain rest ; an eczematous eruption sub- 
sequently appeared on the arm, but the rheumatism remained un- 
cured. Ebers applied it endermically, but witnessed nothing more 
than a violent burning in the part, such as is commonly the case 
with other agents. He frequently observed the pricking sensation 
mentioned by Turnbull, and it was often to such an extent as to 
be almost insupportable. According to the trials of Ebers, its 
diuretic effect was not restricted to dropsy, but was usually 
evinced in other diseases. The sensorium appears never to have 
been implicated, but when applied in small doses over the pit of 
the stomach it produced striking effects on the spinal marrow, 
and the nerves connected therewith, — as the nerves of the 
thorax and abdomen : violent pain was experienced, which 
spread through the whole extent of the nerves distributed to the 
parietes of the abdomen, with a sense of traction along the 
spinal marrow, twitchings, great anxiety, orthopnoea, nausea and 
vomiting, and a feeling, which the patient was unable to describe, 
except that it was almost intolerable. 

When given internally, veratria speedily caused nausea, retch- 
ing, vertigo, and complete loss of appetite ; so that Ebers soon 
abandoned its internal use, and, like Turnbull, gave the prefer- 
ence to the external. 

Owing to its presumed effects on the nervous system, and 
especially on the spinal marrow, and the nerves connected with 
it, its use was suggested in nervous diseases — particularly in 
neuralgia, prosopalgia, and ischias — in which it is said to have 



VERATRIA. 577 

been found most efficacious by Turnbull, Ebers,* Briick, Suffert,t 
Professor S. Jackson,J Cunier,§ and others. In no class of dis- 
eases, according to the first of these writers, have the beneficial 
effects of the ointment of veratria exhibited themselves more 
strikingly, and by no other remedy has the same amount of 
relief been induced in so short a time. Even in tic douloureux, 
a single friction is said to have been sufficient to remove the dis- 
ease without relapse. Two circumstances chiefly have here to 
be borne in mind, — first, the extent of the pain, for when it is 
not concentrated on a point, but spreads along the branches of 
the nerves, the cure is easier, and a weaker ointment is needed; 
and, secondly, the duration of the affection. In long protracted 
cases, a complete cure is far more difficult, and can, in general, 
be effected only after a long period. The paroxysms, however, 
may be relieved by an ointment composed of from twenty to 
forty grains to an ounce of lard. In this case, it must be strongly 
rubbed in, so as to excite itching of the skin : care must be 
taken, however, that the ointment does not touch the conjunc- 
tiva, as the smallest quantity of veratria would induce violent 
inflammation. Ebers, likewise, found advantage from its use 
in chorea, hypochondriasis, and hysteria ; and Turnbull in 
paralysis. Both extol it in rheumatism and gout, in relation to 
which Ebers remarks, that the remedy has appeared to him 
more efficacious when the nervous system, or some nervous 
branches, were predominantly affected, and when the gastric 
affection was entirely removed. In the cases treated by veratria, 
relief was sooner obtained, and the cure was more speedy and 
complete, than when other agents were employed ; the secretion 
of urine was augmented ; restlessness disappeared ; and sleep 
returned, without any evidences of narcosis. As regards acute 
rheumatism, Turnbull remarks, that veratria is not to be pre- 
ferred to antiphlogistics ; in these cases, a weaker ointment 
must be used (ten grains to the ounce) : in chronic cases, the 
quantity may be carried much higher; and — especially when 
extensive organic changes have supervened in the parts — it 
must be continued for a great length of time. In lumbago, 
ischias, and rheumatism of the chest, not more than one or two 
rubbings were generally necessary. In gout, according to Turn- 
bull, it may be exhibited both internally and externally ; in the 



* Casper's Wochenschrift, 1837, No. 47. 

f Berlin, Medicin. Centralzeitung, 1837, p. 670, and Heidelberg. Medicin. 
Annal.B. iv. H. 1,8. 11. 

| Amer. Journ. of Pharmacy, vol. iii. new series, p. 186. Pliilad. 1838. 

§ Bulletin Medical Beige, Dec. 1837, and Bullet. General de Therap. Dec. 
1838. See, also, Forcke, Physiologisch-lherapeutische Untersuchungen liber 
das Veratria, Hannov. 1837; cited in Bib. (Jcncrale, Encyclog. des Sciences 
Medicales, Aout, 1838. 
49 



57S VERATKIA. 

former mode of administration, he compared its efficacy with that 
of colchicum : the latter method has been recommended, also, 
by Sir C. Scudamore. It was, likewise, found very advanta- 
geous by Bardsley* in chronic rheumatism. 

Dr. Bushnan has strongly recommended the ointment of 
veratriain dysmenorrhea, which he supposes may be frequently 
owing to perversion of the nervous action of the lower portion 
of the spinal nerves ; and in certain spasmodic affections of the 
larynx, presumed by Dr. Tunstallt to be connected with a mor- 
bid condition of the superior portion of the spinal marrow, it is 
asserted to have been efficacious. 

It has also been used in amaurosis, the ointment being rubbed 
on the temples and forehead for a few minutes, once or twice in 
twenty-four hours. The friction should be continued until it 
causes redness, heat, and stinging. Messrs. Lawrence! and Tyrrel 
affirm, however, that it is wholly inefficacious. 

Veratria would seem to have been most efficacious in 
cases of dropsy. "Unadulterated veratria," says Ebers, "acts 
often on the urinary secretion with magical powers, and it 
may seem fabulous, when I remark, that friction with a very 
weak ointment of veratria two or three times in the twenty- 
four hours on the inner part of the thigh, or the back, epigastric 
region, or around the navel, has excited such a copious secretion 
of urine, that the patients, under its long continuance, began to 
feel weak; and the anasarca, and even the dropsical accu- 
mulation, in the abdomen, in a short time almost disappeared — 
circumstances which indicate the caution that ought to be ob- 
served in apportioning the dose, when we are satisfied of the 
goodness of the article." He properly remarks, however, that 
veratria, by augmenting the secretion of urine, may not remove 
the dropsy, but, by occasioning the absorption of the effused 
fluid, it allows the physician to examine as to the existence of 
organic mischief. Ebers gave it in many of the lighter hydro- 
pic cases, which follow intermittents and other forms of fever, 
and often with great and rapid success ; likewise, in twenty-four 
more serious cases, fifteen of which recovered, and one experi- 
enced relief: eight very complicated cases terminated fatally, 
and in four of these diuresis occurred ; in four not. 

Fricker§ likewise obtained very good effects from the use of 

* Hospital Facts and Observations, Illustrative of the Efficacy of Strychnia, 
Brucia, Veratria, Iodine, &c. Lond. 1830. 

f Provincial Med. and Surg. Journ. Au<r. 14, 1841. 

X A Treatise on the Diseases of the Eye, Amer. edit, bv Dr. Hays, p. 519, 
Philad. 1843. 

\ Wurtemb. Medic. Correspondenzblatt, B. vi. S. 157 and 341 ; and Hei- 
delb. Medicin .Annal. B. iv. H. i. S. 15. 



VERATRIA. 579 

an ointment of veratria in dropsy : but, on the other hand, Spilth 
found it of no avail. 

Turnbull observed, from the internal use of veratria, as well 
as from its application to the pit of the stomach, a diminution in 
the frequency and force of the pulsations of the heart ; and, in 
cases where these were more excited than natural, restoration 
of a regular circulation. He exhibited it, consequently, in heart 
diseases, especially in those of gouty and rheumatic diatheses, in 
simple nervous and gouty palpitation, and as a diuretic in orga- 
nic heart diseases, in which it frequently seemed to afford relief. 

The observation of Turnbull — that by the external applica- 
tion of veratria, in chronic rheumatism with swellings of the 
joints, these disappeared — induced him to try it in glandular 
swellings ; he found, that in goitre,m swellings of the mammary 
glands unaccompanied with pain, in buboes, and in scrophulous 
tumours of various parts, even in cases in which iodine had 
failed, it rendered essential service. It has, according to him, 
the advantage, that the skin is not subsequently irritated by it, 
and when, after the rubbing, the superfluous ointment is washed 
off with soap and water, the affected parts can soon afterwards 
be exposed to the air. Of an ointment formed of ten grains of 
veratria to half an ounce of lard, a piece, about the size of a nut, 
is rubbed in for ten minutes twice a day, and every week the 
strength of the ointment is increased. 

Magendie* recommends, that veratria should be given, also, 
as a drastic cathartic, especially where a speedy action on the 
bowels is needed. Prescribed with this view, it has been found 
effective in several aged persons, in whom a collection of excre- 
ment had formed in the large intestine. Turnbull advises it in 
the opposite condition of the bowels — in diarrhoea — given in 
the dose of half a grain — a disease in which, it is well known, 
our ordinary cathartics often prove extremely serviceable. 

It would appear that veratria is an article which is frequently 
adulterated. Such, at least, is the opinion of many practitioners, 
and in this way they account for the discordance amongst obser- 
vers as to its virtues.! The veratria with which Ebers made 
his first trials, was obtained from the French laboratories ; it 
exhibited the whole power of this heroic agent : on employing, 
however, a new preparation, he found it entirely useless ; and 
afterwards, with another, lie derived all the benefit obtained from 
the first. 

The observations of Ebers would induce us to give farther 
trials to it, but the Author must confess, that his experience, thus 

* Formulaire pour la Preparation, &c. de plusicurs nouveaux M^dicamens. 
f Ebers, and Riecko, Die nouern Arzneimittel, u. s. w. S. 407, and 2te 
Auflage.S. 611. Stuttgart, 1840. 



5S0 VERATRIA. 

far, has by no means confirmed the eulogiums of Turnbull ; and 
this is the general sentiment, he thinks, of the profession.* It has 
often been used externally by him as well as by many other 
American physicians, but it has almost always fallen short of 
the mark.t 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

Veratria may be given either in pills or in spirituous solution ; 
the dose being from one-twelfth to one-sixth of a grain several 
times a day. Externally, it is best administered in the form of 
ointment. In the latter case, Ebers generally strews two grains 
on the denuded skin. 



Mistura veratria;. 

Mixture of veratria. 

R. Veratrise, gr.j. 

Aq. destillat. f.gij. M. 

A dessert-spoonful to be taken in one or two ounces of 
sugared water, in cases of tic douloureux. Magendie. 

Pil ul SB veratriae. 

Pills of veratria. 

R. Veratriae, gr. ss. 
Acaciae, ^j. 
Syrup, acac. q. s. ut fiant pilulae vj. 

Dose. — One pill, to be repeated two or three times a day, ac- 
cording to circumstances. Magendie. 

R. Veratriae, gr. j. 

Glycyrr. pulv. gr. xii. 
Ext. hyoscyam. gr. vj. 
M. fiant pilulae xij. 

Dose. — One, three times a day. Turnbull. 

* Gully's Translation of Magendie's Formulary; and Joy, in Tweedie's 
Library of Medicine, v. 289. Lond. 1840 ; or 2d Amer. edit. Philad. 1842. 

f See, on the Preparation, Employment, Action and Medicinal Virtues of 
Veratrine, Ebers, in Hufeland's Journal, B. lxxxvi. 1838. 



VERATRIA. 5S1 

Tinctura verat rise. 

Tincture of veratria. 

R. Veratria gr. iv.* 
Alcohol. f.gj. M. 

Dose. — Ten, fifteen, twenty, to twenty-five drops in a glass 
of water. — Given in dropsy. Magendie. 

Magendie recommends that the tincture should also be used 
externally, in cases of dropsy or gout. 

Liniment urn vera t riae- 

Liniment of veratria. 

R. Veratrise, gr. viij. 
Solve in 

Alcohol. 

Tinct. sapon. camphorat. aa. f.§ss. . 

Unguentnm veratrise. 

Ointment of veratria. 

R. Veratrise, gr. v. x. vel xx. 
Adipis, gj. 
Misce intime. 

For external use. The size of a hazel-nut to be carefully 
rubbed in, morning and evening, or oftener, for from five to fif- 
teen minutes. Turnbull. 

R. Veratrise, 9j. 
Tere cum. 

01 olivee, 3J- 
Et artde 

Unguent, cetacei, 3 v 'j« Misce. 



Sulphate of Veratria — Veratrix Sulphas — possesses 
the same virtues as veratria. Magendie gives the following 
form for internal administration : — 

* In the PharmacopSe UhiverseUe, of Joardan, (ii. 613,) there is the serious 
error of directing5iv. in the preparation of this tincture, in place of fourgrains ! 
49* 



5S2 ZINCI CHLORIDUM. 

Solntio veratriffi sulphatis. 
Solution of sulphate ofveratria. 

R. Veratriae sulphat. gr. j. 

Aquae destillat. f.3ij. Misce. 

Dose. — 3j- to 3iv. in a mixture. The preparation has been 
suggested as a substitute for the Eau medicinale d'Husson. 



CXLII. ZINCI CHLO'RIDUM. 

Synonymes. Zinci Chloruretum, Zincum Chloratum, Z. Muriaticum (Oxy- 
datum), Z. Salitum, Chloruretum Zincicum seu Zinci, Chloretum Zinci sen 
Zincicum, Butyrum Zinci, Murias Zinci seu Zincicus, Chloride, or Chloru- 
ret, Hydrochlorate, Muriate, or Butter of Zinc. 

German. Zinkchlorid, Salzsaures Zinkoxyd, Chlorzink, Zinkchlorure, Zink- 
butter. 



MODE OF PREPARING. 

The chloride of zinc results, — when to any given quantity of 
pure muriatic acid, pure oxide of zinc is added, by the aid of 
gentle heat, until no more is dissolved : the solution is then fil- 
tered, and evaporated in a porcelain dish to dryness ; whereby a 
jelly-like — and, by high drying, a firm, white, and by careless 
drying a light brownish — substance remains, of an austere, sour- 
ish, metallic taste, which must be rubbed to powder, and pre- 
served in a closely-stopped vessel. 

In the last edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the United States 
(1842), it is directed to be prepared as follows: — Take of Zinc, 
in small pieces, 3iiss. ; Nitric acid, Prepared chalk, each 3i. ; 
Muriatic acid, a sufficient quantity. To the zinc, in a glass or 
porcelain vessel, add gradually sufficient muriatic acid to dissolve 
it; then strain, add the nitric acid, and evaporate to dryness. 
Dissolve the dry mass in water, add the chalk, and, having 
allowed the mixture to stand for twenty-four hours, filter, and 
again evaporate to dryness. 

Chloride of zinc is very deliquescent in the air, forming butter 
of zinc {butyrum zinci German, Zinkbutter). It is very 
soluble in water, alcohol, and ether. 



Z1NCI CHLORIDUM. 583 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Chloride of zinc has been exhibited both internally and exter- 
nally, but chiefly in the latter mode, especially in this country. 

Papenguth* found a very dilute solution useful in flabby 
scrophulous ulcerations, applied in the form of lotion ; and in 
sinuous ulcers, in the form of injection. It has been especially 
recommended as a caustic, that does not exert any disagreeable 
influence, like corrosive sublimate, arsenic, or potassa fusa : — 
never causing violent pain in the affected parts, or any kind of 
irritative fever ; or disordering the digestive organs, as some of 
the articles just mentioned. Hancke, indeed, advises, that arse- 
nic should be entirely banished from therapeutics as a caustic 
agent, and that chloride of zinc should be substituted for it. He 
employed it with success in old, atonic ulcerations on the feet, 
in the strength of two grains to the ounce of distilled water : 
with this he wetted lint, and applied it two or three times a day. 
With like success, he used it in old syphilitic ulcers, with ex- 
tremely morbid surfaces and secretions : the chloride destroyed 
the degenerate formation, and effected cicatrisation. In scrophu- 
lous and malignant herpetic ulcers,he prescribed a concentrated 
solution ; in pityriasis he used it as a wash, and in wounds and 
ulcerations with fungous formations, he applied it in a con- 
centrated state ; in phagedenic ulcers of the face, it effected a 
more certain cure than the method of Cosme, — the chloride 
being strewed, a line thick, in a dry state, over the whole surface 
of the ulcer, the edges surrounded with adhesive plaster, and a 
plaster placed over the chloride of zinc, with compresses and an 
appropriate bandage. In nsevi materni, angiectasis, &c, he 
applied it in the same manner, as well as in the pustule maligne 
{Milzbrandkarbunkel). 

Mr. Carmichaelf states, however, that he has used it in several 
instances, and has come to the conclusion, that, although not so 
objectionable as the arsenious acid, on account of the poisonous 
nature of the latter, it excites as much pain and inflammation,! 
without destroying, to the same extent, the carcinomatous sub- 
stance. 

By Mr. Guthrie, chloride of zinc has been used in necrosis, 
to penetrate the hardened case of new bone. It attacks the 
animal tissue of the bone, destroys it, and thus causes the earthy 
matter to soften and become detached. The sequestrum is by 

* Nouveau Journal de Mcdecine, 1819. 
t Dublin Medical Press, March 4, 18-10. 

£ See, also, Vo<n, Phannakodyivaraik, i. 303, 2te Auflanre ; cited by Pereira, 
Elements of Mat. Med. l. 821, 2d edit, Lond. 1842. 



584 ZINCI CHLORIDUM. 

this means exposed with little pain or disturbance of the part, 
and may be dealt with according to circumstances.* 

Mr. Callaway ,t of Guy's Hospital, London, employed it with 
considerable success in the cure of cutaneous and subcutaneous 
naevi materni. It was directed to be rubbed on the part until 
the skin became slightly discoloured, and to be repeated at inter- 
vals. Dr. Alexander Ure has found it extremely useful in 
the varieties of erosive ulcers called lupus, which were often 
speedily checked, and the disease permanently cured by the local 
use of the chloride. He applied it in a paste, made with one 
part of the chloride and two or three parts of the anhydrous 
sulphate of lime — a modification of Canquoin's formula (see 
below), recommended some years ago.t One or two applications 
of the paste were generally sufficient to produce a proper eschar, 
and when this was detached, the sore was treated with water 
dressing.§ A case is related by Dr. Davidson, || of malignant 
ulcer under the left ear, which was cured by the unmixed chlo- 
ride of zinc, applied repeatedly until the ulcer assumed a healthy 
character. 

Hancke used it likewise for the formation of issues, which it 
establishes in from six to eight hours ; and, lastly, to excite rube- 
faction on the surface, either applied in the form of solution of 
the chloride in water or wine, or mixed with oil or lard into an 
ointment, and rubbed on the skin : in this way, a gritty kind of 
eruption of a scarlet hue is induced, which is said to have afford- 
ed relief in paralysis of the limbs. 

Wendt, Vogt, and Canquoin have highly extolled the chloride 
as a caustic, and it has been largely employed by the physicians 
and surgeons of this continent, especially in the Philadelphia 
Hospital, and Pennsylvania Hospital, in similar cases to those 
mentioned above. 

Dr. Davidson!! is of opinion, that chloride of zinc is only supe- 
rior to many other caustics in cases where the destruction of" a 
considerable thickness of texture is required, or where the re- 
moval of an excrescence by a caustic is preferred by the patient 
to the knife : the nitrate of silver seems, he considers, to be supe- 
rior in promoting a sound action, when the unhealthy surface or 
stratum of the ulcer is superficial. 

* James, Retrospective Address before the Provincial Medical Association, 
in the Transactions of the Association. Lond. 1840. 

f British Annals of Medicine, May 19, 1837. 

\ Lond. Med. Gazette, Dec. 19, 1835. 

f) Ibid. Dec. 3, 1836. See a case of noli me tangere of the nostril, and one 
of phagedenic ulcer of (he arm, cured, in London Lancet, cited in Boston Med. 
and Surg. Journ.Nov. 4, 1840, p. 215. 

|| Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ. Jan. 1838. 

If Op. cit., and American Journal of the Medical Sciences, May, 1889, 
p. 238. 



ZINCI CHLORIDUM. 585 

Hancke* has, likewise, used the chloride internally, with ad- 
vantage, in cases of epilepsy, as well as in St. Vitus' s dance ; 
and has prescribed it, united with hydrocyanic acid, in proso- 
palgia. Hufeland, also, extols the solution of the chloride in 
all those neuroses in which the oxide of zinc is indicated, and 
especially in such patients as are not readily impressible.t 

A recent writer, M. Gaudriot,J considers, that chloride of zinc 
properly diluted has a great effect in curingsimple blennorrhea of 
the urethra and vagina. To cure the disease readily in men it 
is generally sufficient to use the injection given below, thrice a 
day for two or three days. The first injections are almost always 
followed by more or less swelling of the glans, but this does not 
prevent their continuance. In women four or six of the suppo- 
sitories mentioned below are sufficient to produce a cure. The 
first generally occasions swelling, with more or less heat of the 
vulva ; but these symptoms soon disappear. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 
Guttffi zinc i chloridi. 
Drops of chloride of zinc. 
Mlhtr Zinci. 

R. Zinci. chlorid. gr. j. 

Sp. aether, muriat. seu sulphuric. f-3iv. Solve. 

Dose. — Five drops, every four hours, in a little sugared water; 
gradually increasing the dose to ten drops, in chorea, epilepsy, 
prosopalgia, &c. Hufeland, Hancke.^ 

Lotio zinci chloridi. 
Lotion of chloride of zinc. 

R. Zinc, chlorid. gr. viij. 
Ext. aloes aquos. ^ij. 
Aquae destill. f.3iv. Solve. 

Applied to the dressings, in cases of atonic, scrophulous 
ulcers. f^ogt. 

Or, the aloes may be omitted. 

* Rust's Magazine, xxii. 373 ; and Journal de Pharmacie, xvi. 549. 

f See Merat and De Lens, Art. Zinc (chlomre de). 

\ Journ. des Connaissances Med. Sept. 1810; and Brit, and For. Med. Rev. 
April, 1811, p. 527. 

§ Lincke, Vollst;mdiges Recept-Taschenbuch, u. s. w. ii. 780. Leipz. 
1811. 



5S6 ZINCI CHLORIDUM. 

Injectio zinci chloridi. 

Injection of chloride of zinc. 

R. Zinci chlorid. liquid, gtt. xxiv. — xxxvi. 

Aquse destillat. §iv. 

Filter through paper. A small quantity of this to be injected 
about an inch along the urethra, two or three times a day. 

Gaudriot. 

Suppositorium zinci chloridi. 

Suppository of chloride of zinc. 

R. Zinci chlorid. liquid, gtt. v. 
Morphise sulphat. gr. ss. 

Mix with three drams of the following paste : 

R. Mucilag. tragacanth. p. vj. 
Sacchar. pulv. p. iij. 
Amyli pulv. p. ix. 

One of these must be introduced every day, or every other 
day. Gaudriot. 

Chloride of zinc may be applied as a caustic, by means of a 
moistened hair pencil, either alone, or mixed with an equal por- 
tion of oxide of zinc, or sulphate of lime, or according to the 



Pasta zinci chloridi. 
Paste of chloride of zinc. 

Canquoin's Caustic Pastes. 

A. B. C. 

R. Zinci chlorid. p. i. i. i. 
Farinse tritici p. iv. iij. ij. 
Aquee fontan.* q. s. ut fiat pasta. 

R. Zinci chlorid. p. j. 
Farinae tritici p. iss. 
Butyri antimonii, p. ss. 
Aq. font. q. s. ut fiat pasta. 

* To each ounce of the chloride of zinc twenty-four to thirty drops of water 
may be added. 



ZINCI CYANURETUM. 5S7 



CXLIIT. ZINCI CYANURETUM. 



Synonymes. Zinci Cyanidum, Zincum Cyanogenatum, Z. Borussicum, Z. 
Zooticum, Z. Hydrocyanicum, Cyanuretum Zincicum seu Zinci, Cyanetum 
Zinci, Prussias seu Hydrooyanas seu Cyanhydras Zinci seu Zincicus, Hy- 
drocyanate, Prussiate, or Cyanuret of Zinc. 

French. Cyanure de Zinc. 

German. Cyanzink, Blausaures Zynkoxyd, Blaustoffzink, Zinkcyaniire. 

This preparation was used in Germany for a long time before 
the process was made known.* 



METHOD' OF PREPARING. 

According to Kunze, it is directed, in the Leipzic shops, to be 
prepared as follows :t — Any quantity of pure sulphate of zinc 
is dissolved in ten times as much distilled water ; the fluid is 
then filtered, and decomposed by a solution of hydrocyanate of 
potassa, or hydrocyanate of lime ; added by drops so long as a 
precipitate is formed. This precipitate, which consists of cyanuret 
of zinc, must be carefully washed, dried, and preserved in a 
glass jar, from which the entrance of light is prevented.^ 

It has been admitted into the Parisian " Codex. " 

Cyanuret of zinc has the appearance of a white, tasteless pow- 
der, which is insoluble in water and alcohol, but dissolves in the 
stronger acids, with the disengagement of hydrocyanic acid. 
Well prepared and rubbed, it has a strong odour of hydrocyanic 
acid, and when moistened, or exposed to heat, it. gives off hydro- 
cyanic acid. 

As to its medicinal effects, and mode of administering, they are 
analogous to those of the following preparation: they are, there- 
fore given together. 



* Magendie, Formulaire pour la Preparation, &c. de plusieurs nouveaux 
Medicamens, &c. 
f Riecke, Die neucrn Arzneimiltel, u. s. w. S. 110. Stuttgart, 1837. 
X For M. Pelletier's method, see Magendie, Formulaire, &c. 



588 ZTNCI FERROCYANURETUM. 



CXLIV. ZINCI FERROCYANURETUM. 

Synonymes. Zinci Ferrocyanidum, Z. Ferrohydrocyanas, Cyanetum seu Cy- 
anuretum Zinci etFerri, Cyanetum Ferrosnzincicum, Cyanuretum Ferrozin- 
cicum, Zincum Ferrohydrocyanicum, Z. Ferroborussicum, Z. Ferrocyano- 
genatum seu Ferrocyanatum, Prussias Zinci et Ferri, Hydrocyanas Zinci 
Ferruginosus, Ferrohydrocyanas Zinci, Ferrocyanuret, Ferro-hydrocyanate 
or Ferrocyanate of Zinc. 

German. Eisenblausaures Zink, Blausaures Eisenzink, Eisenhaltiges Blau- 
saures Zink, Blausaures Eisenoxydul-Zinkoxyd, Zinkeisencyaniire, Cyanei- 
senzink. 



METHOD OF PREPARING. 

According to Schindler,* this preparation is best made by the 
mutual decomposition of boiling hot solutions of eighty-three 
parts of sulphate of zinc, and sixty parts of ferrocyanuret of 
potassium. If the sulphate of zinc be not entirely free from iron, 
the salt will have a bluish lustre, which, after long washing with 
lime water, becomes of a reddish line. If the bluish colour be 
manifested, some more sulphate of zinc must be added, and it 
must be digested until the precipitate appears entirely white. 

Ferrocyanuret of zinc forms a white, insoluble, almost in- 
odorous powder, which is somewhat soluble in the stronger acids, 
without exhaling a smell of hydrocyanic acid in the cold ; but 

leased. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Hnfeland recommends the cyanuret, or perhaps, the ferrocya- 
nuret of zinc in nervous diseases. According to him, from one to 
four grains may be given for a dose, two or three times a day, 
without any injurious effects ; — the only inconvenience being, 
at times, slight nausea, but no diarrhcEa, or disposition to obstruc- 
tions, and no narcotic symptoms. In cardialgia, it afforded, in 
his hands, essential service, as well as in some cases of epilepsy 
and in paralysis. Henning,t likewise, found it useful in cramp 
of the stomach, in hysteria, and in spasmodic diseases of children 
induced by worms. In epileptic attacks from teething, he also 

* Riecke, Op. cit. S. 411, and 2te Auflage, S. 646. Stuttgart, 1840 
f Hufeland's Journal, 1823. 






ZINCI FERROCYANURETUM. 589 

gave it with advantage ; — the dose being from half a grain to 
a grain, three or four times a day. Clams gave cyanuret of 
zinc in epilepsy, but he observed no other result than less fre- 
quent and less severe attacks. Pohl saw no very decided effect 
from the remedy, which he gave in the dose of from one-fourth 
to half a grain. In the Berlin Polyclinic Institute, advantage 
accrued from it in two cases of St. Vitus's dance ; it was begun 
with in the dose of one-third of a grain twice a day, which was 
gradually raised to fourteen grains a day. Klokow gave the 
cyanuret of zinc — which Riecke suggests* was the cyanuret of 
zinc and potassium, {Cyanzink-cyankalium,) in spasmodic 
affections, — beginning at first with one-tenth of a grain, — as 
larger doses occasioned colic, diarrhoea, and vomiting — and, 
when the patient became accustomed to it, gradually augmenting 
the dose to half a grain. Success, he affirms, followed its ad- 
ministration. t Muhrbeck gave it, in violent periodical cephal- 
algia in the region of the left frontal sinus, with great benefit. 
He began with one-twelfth of a grain, and gradually raised the 
dose to a grain and a half. Miiller and Giinther confirm the re- 
ports of its efficacy in St. Vitus's dance: the first gave daily a 
grain ; the latter, from half a grain to a grain, four times a day. 

Kopp, who distinguishes the two preparations from each other, 
instituted experiments with each. He used the ferrocyanuret of 
zinc with advantage in cramp of the stomach, general nervous 
disorder, nervous debility, neuralgia, nervous headach, and noc- 
turnal pains in the bones. He gave it in the form of powder, 
with some sugar of milk, every two hours, or four times a day, in 
doses of one-twelfth to one-eighth of a grain, gradually increasing 
them. According to his observations, it occasions, with many 
persons, obstructions, but does not disorder the stomach. Kopp 
found the cyanuret of zinc still more efficacious in the same dis- 
orders. Impressible patients, who suffered under unusual sensi- 
bility of the abdomen, took four powders daily, of one-sixteenth 
of a grain each, with marked benefit. In one case of neuralgia, 
in a man, he elevated the dose very gradually to half a grain, 
four times a day. When, however, this quantity was exceeded, 
and the patient took five-eighths of a grain four times a day, 
hyperamia occurred in the head, with constipation. In two 
cases of chorea of one side of the body, the ferrocyanuret had 
no effect whatever. 

RieckcJ asserts, that his father used it several times with ad- 
vantage in scirrhus of the pylorus. 



* Op. cit. S. 113. 

t Hufeland un<l Osann's Journal, B. Ixx. St. 2. 
% Op. cit. S. 414. 
50 



590 ZINCI FERROCYANTTRETUM. 



MODE OF ADMINISTERING. 

The cyanuret was applied externally, by Von Amnion, in 
scrophulons and incipient rheumatic inflammation of the eyes, 
as well as in catarrhal inflammation of the eyelids : he prescribed 
it suspended by means of gum arable in a mixture of cherry- 
laurel water, and laudanum. 

On account of the insolubility of both the cyanuret and ferro- 
cyanuret, they are best given in the form of pill or powder. 

The common dose of the cyanuret is from one-sixteenth to 
one-twelfth of a grain several times a day, gradually increasing 
the dose to a quarter of a grain : of the ferrocyanuret, the dose 
is from one to four grains, two or three times a day. Riecke* 
advises — to prevent confusion — that when these articles are 
ordered, they should be respectively denominated Zincum hy- 
drocyanicum sineferro, and Zincum ferro-hydrocyanicum. 

Pilulae zinci cyaimreti. 

Pills of cyanuret of zinc. 

R. Zinci cyanur. gr. xv. 
Ext. glycyrrh. Jij. 
Misce et fiant pilulae Ix. 

Dose. — One, morning, noon, and night, gradually increasing 
the quantity. Kopp. 

R. Zinci cyanuret. gr. vj. 
Magnesia?, gr. iv. 
Cinnam. pulv. gr. iij. Misce. 

This dose to be repeated every four hours, in nervous affec- 
tions of the stomach, especially in cases of cramp. Henning. 

Mistura zinci f errocy anureti . 

Mixture of ferrocyanuret of zinc. 

R. Zinci ferrocyanur. gr. iv. 
Aquae destillat. f.^ij. M. 

Dose. — A fourth part, four times a day, in chorea. ' 

LinckeA 

* Ibid. 

f Vollstandiges Recept-Taschenbuch, ii. 778. Leipz. 1841. 



ZINCI IODIDUM. 591 



Pulveres zinci f errocyanureti. 

Powders of ferrocy anuret of zinc. 

R. Zinci ferrocyanur. gr. ij. — viij. 

Sacchar. 3j. M. et divide in part. vj. 

Dose. — One to be given every two hours in cardialgia. 

Von Hildenbrand. 

Pilulse zinci ferrocyanureti. 

Pills of ferrocy anuret of zinc. 

R. Zinci ferrocyanuret. gr. xv. 
Valerian, rad. pulv. Jss. 
Extract, valerian, q. s. ut fiant pi], lx. 

Dose. — One, morning and evening, in chorea. 

Rosensteil and Heckenroth.* 



CXLV. ZINCI IO'DIDUM. 

JSynonymes. Zincum Iodatum, Zinci Ioduretum, Iodetum Zinci seu Zinci- 

cum, Protoioduretum Zinci, Iodide, or Ioduret of Zinc. 
German. Iodzink, Zinkiodiire. 

This preparation is made by boiling together iodine and zinc 
in atomic proportions, or rather with an excess of zinc, in a flask 
of water, to dryness, and subliming the residue. Iodide of 
zinc is thus procured in beautiful, colourless, prismatic crystals.! 
It is very deliquescent, and cannot easily be retained in the 
solid form. When heated in open vessels, it is resolved into 
iodine and oxide of zinc. It is very liable to undergo sponta- 
neous decomposition. 



* Lincke, Op. cit. 

f Annales de Chimie, xci. 



592 ZINCI IODIDUM. 



EFFECTS ON THE ECONOMY. 

Iodide of zinc has a caustic taste, and, when applied to a de- 
nuded surface, gives rise to considerable smarting. Dr. Ure* 
recommends an ointment, formed of a dram to an ounce of lard, 
in cases where the external use of iodide of potassium is indi- 
cated. Proutet advises it as a collyrium in scrophulous ophthal- 
mia, of the strength of fifteen grains to six ounces of distilled 
water ; and it has been employed to form an astringent injection, 
in the proportion of one or two grains to an ounce of water. 



* Diet, of Chemistry, 2d edition, p. 516. 



INDEX 



DISEASES AND THEIR REMEDIES. 



Abdomen, inflammation of the (hydrarg. 
cyanur.) 

Abscess, mammary (compressio.) 

Absorbents, inflammation of the (iodi- 
num.) 

Abscesses, suppurating (creasoton.) 

Acidity of the stomach (argilla.) 

Acne (acid.hydrocyan. Sulphur, iodid.) 
Indurata (sulphur, iodid.) 
Rosacea (acid, hydrocyan. Creasoton.) 

Adiposis (ballota lanata. Iodinum.) 

After pains (ergota. Sulphuris carbure- 
tum.) 

Amaurosis (acupunctur. Ammonia ted 
counter-irritants. Galvanismus. Nux 
vomica. Strychnia.) 
Incomplete (electro-punct.) 

Amblyopia (strychnia.) 

Amenorrhcea (artemisia. Brominum. 
Caincse radix. Calendula. Ferr. 
protocarbonas. Ferr. iodid. Iodi- 
num. Potassii bromid. Potassii 
iodohydrargyras. Ergota. Sulphu- 
ris carburetum.) 

Anresthesia, local (Nux vomica.) 

Anasarca (acid, hydrocyan. Acupunct. 
Colchicum. Ferri citras.) 

Aneurism (acupunct.) 

Angiectasis (zinci chlorid.) 

Angina pectoris (galvanism. Magnes.) 

Anthrax (iodinum.) 

Malignant (chlorin aq.) 

Aphonia (cblorin. Cubeba;. 01. Tiglii. 
Strychnia.) 

Aphtha;, asthenic (chlorin. aq.) 

Aphthous sores (liq. ferr. persesquinit.) 
Ulceration (creasoton.) 

Arsenic, poisoning by (ferri oxidum hy- 
dratum.) 

Arthritis, chronic (brominum. Compres- 
sio.) 

Arthrocace (01. jerinor. aselli.) 

Ascites (acupunct. Cainca: radix. Eu- 
phorb. ol. Petti subcarb. Iodi- 
num.) 
50* 



Asphyxia (acupunct. Galvanopunctur. 

Sulphuris carburetum.) 
Asthenia, chronic (potassse chloras.) 
Asthma (bignonia catalpa. Creasoton. 
Galvanism. 01. Tiglii.) 
Humoral (colchicum. Sulphur iodid.) 
IVervous (magnes.) 
Pulverulentum (acid, hydrocy.) 
Spasmodic (acid, hydrocyan. Iodi- 
num.) 
Atrophy (brucia. 01. jecinor. aselli.) 

Partial (nux vomica.) 
Biles (Iodinum. Ammoniated counter 

irritants.) 
Bladder, atony of the (diosma.) 

Catarrh of the (cort. adstring. Brazil.) 
Diseases of the (diosma.) 
Inflammation of the (fuligo.) 
Bleeding from leech bites (creasoton.) 
Blcnnorrhcea (acid.hydrocyan. Acidum 
tannicum. Chimaphila. Cort. ad- 
string. Brazil. Ferr. Iodid. Monc- 
sia. Piperina.) 
Of the bladder (diosma.) 
Of the eye (calcis chlorid.) See Go- 
norrhoea. 
Blotches, syphilitic (argent, prasparat.) 
Boils, see Biles. 

Bones, pains in the (zinci ferrohydrocy- 
anur.) 
Tumours of the (auri prrcpar.) 
Bowels, painful affections of the (acid. 

hydrocyan.) 
Brain, chronic affections of the (ammo- 
niated counter-irritants.) 
Bronchia, dilatation of the (chlorin.) 
Inflammation of the (ammoniated court-. 
ti i-irritants.) 
Bronchial affections (colchicum.) 
Bronchitis (acid, hydrocyan. Iodinum. 
Maiinilum. Strychnia.) 
Chronic (aq. picca. Chlorin. Cimici- 
faga, Colchicum. Creasoton. Fer»i 
citras. Galcopsis. Monesia. Salt- 
ana.) 



594 



INDEX OF DISEASES. 



Bronchocele (ferr. iodid.) See Goitre. 
Bronchorrhoea (creasoton. Monesia.) 
Bubo (Iodinum.) 

Ulcerated (creasoton.) 
Burns (calcis chlorid. lodidum. Crea- 
soton. Fuligo. Sodae chlorid. Sul- 
phuris carburetum.) 
Severe (compressio.) 
Bursas, inflammation of the (iodinum.) 

Enlarged (iodinum.) 
Cachexia (acid. acet. empyr. Chlorin. 
Fuligo.) 
Mercurial (auri prapar.) See Dys- 
crasy. 
Calculous pains (diosma.) 
Calculus (chimaphila.) 

Expulsion of fragments of (ergota.) 
Phosphatic (acid, lact.) 
Cancer (acid. acet. empyr. Aur. nitrico- 
muriat. Auripraepar. Calcis chlo- 
rid. Calendula. Ferr. arseniat. 
Ferr. subcarb. Ferr. iodid.) 
Of the heart (calendula.) 
Of the breast (creasoton. Arsenici io- 

didum.) 
Of the face (creasoton. Fuligo.) 
Of the integuments (calendula.) 
Of the lip (creasoton.) 
Open (carbo animalis.) 
Of the skin (creasoton.) 
Of the tongue (iodin.) 
Of the uterus (auri praeparat. Calen- 
dula. Creasoton. Morphia acetas. 
Acidum hydrocyanicum.) 
Cancerous ulcers (chlorini aq. Ferri 
subcarb. Potass, iodid.) 
Of the face (creasoton.) 
Cancrum oris (acid, acet empyr. Calcis 
chlorid. Chlorin aq. Creasoton.) 
Carbuncle, sloughing (creasoton.) 
Carbunculus malignus (aq. chlorin.) 
Cardialgia (argenti oxidum. Artemisia. 
Calendula. Nux vomica. Zinci 
ferrohydrocyanur.) 
Carditis (ammoniated counter-irritants.) 
Caries of bones (acid. acet. empyr.) 
Of the fibula, &c. (creasoton.) 
Scrophulosa (ol. jecor. aselli. Creaso- 
ton.) 
Of the teeth (calcis chlorid. Monesia.) 
Catalepsy (strychnia.) 
Catamenia, obstruction of the. See 

Amenorrhcea. 
Cataract, disintegrated (carbo animalis.) 
Incipient (ammoniated counter-irri- 
tants.) 
Catarrh, chronic (acid, hydrocyan. A. 
tannicum. Aq. picea. Chimaphila. 
Chlorin. Emetia. Galeopsisgrandi- 
flora.) 
Pulmonary (galeopsis. Mannitum.) 



Catarrhus urethras (cubebre.) 

Vesicae (aq. picea. Caincse radix. 
Cubebae. Diosma.) 
Cellular membrane, sloughing of the 

(iodinum.) 
Cephalalgia (acupunct.) 
Chronic (artemisia.) 
Intermittent (quiniae sulphas.) 
Nervous (acid, hydrocyan.) 
Periodical (zinci ferrohydrocyan.) 
Syphilitic (hydrarg. cyanur.) See Head- 
ach. 
Cerumen, defective (acid. acet. empyr.) 
Chancre (acidum tannicum. Argenti 
praparat. Creasoton. Hydrarg. 
cyanur. Iodinum.) 
Phagedenic (iodinum.) 
Chaps (ol. jecin. aselli.) 
Chest, diseases of the (chlorin.) 
Affections of the (fuligo.) 
Neuralgic affections of the (galva- 
nism.) 
Chilblains (calx chlorin. Creasotum. Io- 
dinum. 
Ulcerated (Monesia.) 
Chlorosis (artemisia. Ferri citras. Ferr. 
iodid. Ferr. protocarbonas. Ferr. 
lactas. Paullinia.) 
Cholera (cannabis indica. Creasotum. 
Diosma. Guaco. Morphia? acetas. 
Nux vomica. Strychnia.) 
Morbus (artemisia.) 
Infantum (argilla pura. Fuligo.) 
Chordee (iodinum.) 

Chorea (acid, hydrocyan. Cimicifuga. 
Ferri subcarb. Ferri ferrocyanur. 
Iodinum. 01. jecor. aselli. Strych- 
nia. Veratria. Zinci ferrohydro- 
cyanur.) 
Colic (fuligo.) 

Hysterical (ol. sinapis.) 
Colica pictonum (nux vomica.) 
Condylomata (argent, praparat. Crea- 
soton. Hydrarg. deuto-iodid.) 
Congestions in the head (ammoniated 

counter-irritants.) 
Constipation (aq. picea. Galvanism. Ve- 
ratria.) 
Contagion (calx chlorin. Chlorin.) 
Contusions (acupunct. Creasoton. Io- 
dinum.) 
Convalescence, tedious (paullinia.) 
Convulsions (ammoniated counter-irri- 
tants. Auripraepar. Magnes. Com- 
pression of arteries. Potass, cya- 
nur.) 
During dentition (chlorin. aq.) 
Hysterical (compressio. Indigum.) 
Parturient (ergota.) 
Convulsive affections (acupunct.) 
Diseases of childhood (artemisia.) 






INDEX OF DISEASES. 



595 






Cornea, granulations on the (fuligo.) 
Obscurity of the (calx chlorin.) 
Opacity of the (hydrarg. iodid. rubr. 

Iodinum. 01. jecor. aselli.) 
Spots on the (fuligo ) 
Coryza (cnbebae.) 

Cough (cimicifuga. Lactucarium.) 
Nervous (tanninum.) 
Spasmodic (lactucarium.) 
Spasmodic, dry (fucus crispus.) 
Coxalgia (iodinum.) 
Coxarthrocace (ol. jecor. aselli.) 
Cramp (ammoniated counter-irritants. 
Magnet.) 
Of the stomach (nux vomica. Zinci 
ferrohydrocyanur.) 
Croup, hysteric (creasoton.) 
Crusta lactea (creasoton.) 
Cutaneous diseases (arsenias ammonia?. 
Acid, hydrocyan. Anthrakokali. 
Auri cyanidum. Calx chlorin. 
Chlorin. Chlorin. aq. Creasoton. 
Ferr. carbur. Fuligo. Fuligokali. 
Hydrarg. deuto-iodid. Hyd. et Arsen. 
Iodid. lodidurn ammonia. Iodid. 
sulph. Iodinum. 01. jecor. aselli. 
Potassae chloras. Soda chlorin. Sul- 
phur, iodid.) 
Syphilitic (hydrarg. iodid. rubr.) 
Cynanche (cort. adstring. Brazil.) 

Tonsillaris. See Sore Throat. 
Cyst, serous (Iodinum.) 
Dacryocystitis (Iodinum.) 
Deafness (acid. acet. empyr. Creasoton. 
Galvanism.) 
Erethitic nervous (injections of vapour 

of acetous ether.) 
Nervous (injections of vapour of ace- 
tous ether.) 
Nervous, torpid (injections of vapour 
of ether.) 
Debility (ferr. iodid. Nux vomica. Pi- 
perina.) 
General (quiniffi et cinchonia; tannas.) 
Nervous (quiniffi sulphas.) 
Paralysis (ammoniated counter-irri- 
tants.) 
Decubitus gangramosus (plumb, tannas.) 
Delirium tremens (magnetism, animal.) 
Dentition (chlorin.) 
Diabetes mcllitus (creasoton. Acid. 

tannic. Urea.) 
Diarrhoea (acid. acet. empyr. Aq. picea. 
Argilla. Artemisia. (Jarbo nnimalis 
Fucus crispus. Fuligo. Indigum. 
Liq. ferr. perscsquinit. Strychnia. 
Veratria. Monesia. I'aullinia.) 
Choleric (nux vomica.) 
Chronic (ferr. cyanuret. Emctia. Mor- 
phia: acetas. Nux vomica.) 



Diarrhcea of phthisis (monesia.) 

Digestive function, torpor of the (gentiana 
chirayita. Hippocastanum.) 

Diathesis phthisica (chlorin. aq.) 

Diphtheritis (fuligo.) 

Diplopia (acupunct.) 

Discharges from the meatus auditorius 
(acid. acet. erapyreum.) 
From the nose (iodinum.) 
Offensive (acid. acet. empyr.) 

Disinfection (chlorin. Chlorin. aq.) 

Dropsy (acid, hydrocyan. Acid. acet. 
empyr. Aur. chlorid. Aur. muriat. 
natron. Auri prseparat. Ballota 
lanata. Caincse radix. Chima- 
phila. Chlorin. aq. Cimicifuga. 
Colchicum. Ferr. iodid. Hippocas- 
tanum. Iodinum. 01. sinapis. Po- 
tassi iodohydrargyras. Urea. Vera- 
tria.) 
Encysted (acupunct.) 
Of the ovary (iodin.) 
After scarlatina (colchicum.) 

Dumbness (galvanism.) 

Dyscrasy (ferr. iodid. Sulphuris carbu- 
retum.) 
After intermittent (ferr. cyanur.) See 
Cachexia. 

Dysentery (Argilla. Artemisia. Calcis 
chlorid um. Ergota. Ferr. cyanur. 
Fucus crispus. Fuligo. Nux 
vomica, Paullinia. Strychnia. 
Putrid (chlorin. aq.) 

Dysmenorrhoea (ergota. Potassii iodohy- 
drargyras.) 

Dyspepsia (acid. lact. Argil. Berberina. 
Carboanimalis. Chirnaphila. Dios- 
ma. Ferr. iodid. Gentiana chirayita. 
Hippocastanum. Matias. Nux vo- 
mica. Ol. sinapis. Piperina. Po- 
tassii iodohydrargyras. Quiniffi sul- 
phas. Strychnia.) 

Dysphagia (artemisia.) 

Spasmodic (acid, hydrocyan.) 

Dyspnoea (galvanism. Potass, cyanur.) 

Dysuria (chirnaphila'.) 

Ear, middle, affections of the mucous 
membrane of the (iodinum.) 

Eclampsia infantum (artemisia.) 

Eczema (broininum. 01. jecinor. aselli.) 

Engorgements, visceral (ferr. iodid.) 

Enlargements, glandular, scrophulous 
(potassii iodohydrargyras.) 

Enteralgia (acid, hydrocyan.) 

Enteritis (acid, hydrocyan.) 
Chronic (monesia.) 

Bphelia (Hydrarg. et arsen. iodid.) 

Epilepsy (acid hydrocyan. Acupunct. 
Ammoniated counter-irritants. Arte- 
misia. Compression of arteries. Crea- 



596 



INDEX OF DISEASES. 



soton. Ferr. cyanur. Galvanism, 
Granatum. Indigum. Iodinum. Mag- 
nes. Nux vomica. Strychnia. Zinci 
chlorid. Zinci ferrohydrocyanur.) 
Epistaxis (cort. adstring. Brazil. Crea- 

soton. Ergota.) 
Erethism, morbid (potassse chloras.) 
Ergotism, 250. 

Erysipelas (argilla. Chlorin. aq. Colchi- 
cum. Compressio. Iodin.) 
Of the face (Cort. adstring. Brazil.) 
Eustachian tube, obstructed. (Injections 

of air, &c.) 
Exanthemata, febrile (chlorin. aq.) 
Exanthematous diseases (cort. adstring. 

Brazil.) 
Excoriation from lying (creasoton.) 
Of the skin (ol. jecor. aselli.) 
Syphilitic (aurum metallicum.) 
Excrescences, adventitious (iodinum.) 

Syphilitic (aurum metallicum.) 
Exostoses (fulig<\) 
Eye, black (calcis chlorid.) 
Eye, diseases of the (iodinum.) 

Painful affections of the (morphia.) 
Fainting, hysteric (sulphuris carbure- 

tum.) 
Febrile affections (colchicum.) 

Diseases (morphia.) 
Fever, brain (compression of arteries.) 
Of Edinburgh (calx chlorinata.) 
Gastric (artemisia. Chlorin. aq ) 
Hectic (acid, hydrocyan. Chlorin. aq.-, , 
Intermittent (eetrarina. Chlorin. aq.) ! 
Irritative (chlorin. aq.) 
Nervous (chlorin. aq.) 
Paroxysmal (quinise sulphas.) 
Petechial (aq. chlorin.) 
Putrid (acid, ace.t. empyr. Chlorin. aq.) 
Summer (quiniae sulphas.) 
Typhoid, see Typhoid. 
Typhous (sodae chloridum.) 
Yellow (guaco. Quin. sulphas.) See 
Typhus. 
Fissures of the anus (monesia.) 

Of the skin (creasoton. 01. jecor. 
aselli.) 
Fistula (acid, hydrocyan. Calcis chlorid. 

01. jecor. aselli. Potass, iodid.) 
Fistulous openings (iodinum.) 
Flatulence (creasoton.) 
Fluor albus. See Leucorrhoea. 
Foctor oris (calx chlorin. Chlorin. aq ) 
Fractures, ununited (iodinum.) 
Frost bites (calx chlorin.) 
Fungous tumour (creasoton.) 
Fungus of the neck of the uterus (aur. 

nitrico. muriat.) 
Ganglion (aenpunct. Hydrarg. iodid. 
rubr. Iodinum.) 



Ganglionic system, disorder of the (ferr. 

cyanur. 
Gangrene (acid. acet. empyr. Calcis 
chlorid.) 
Hospital (calx chlorin. Creasoton.) 
Of the lungs (chlorin.) 
Of the scrotum (calx chlorin.) 
Gangrenous sloughs (monesia.) 
Gastralgia with acid (cinchonia.) 
Gastricism (carbo animalis. Mannitum.) 
Gastritis (codeia.) 

Gastrodynia (acid, hydrocyan. Acupunct. 
Argenti oxidum. Creasoton. Nux 
vomica. 01. sinapis.) 
Gastromalacia (acid. acet. empyr. Chlo- 
rin. aq.) 
Genital organs, atony of the (cubebae.) 
Debility of the (cort. adstring. Brazil.) 
Debility of the (nux vomica.) 
Glanders, chronic (creasoton.) 
Glands, enlarged (carbon, sesqui-iodid. 
plumbi iodid.) 
Induration of the (hydrarg. deuto-iodur.) 
Mammary, enlarged (veratria.) 
Meibomian, copious secretion from the 

(calx chlorin.) 
Mesenteric, enlarged (iodinum) 
Of the neck, inflamed (hydrarg. deuto- 
iodur.) 
Scrophulous swellings of the (calx 

chlorin. Chlorin. aq. Iodinum.) 
Submaxillary, enlarged (iodinum.) 
Tumefied, strumous (hydr. protio- 
did.) 
Glandular affections (aurum muriat. 

Fuligo. Iodinum. Veratria.) 
Gleet (creasoton. Cubeba. Ergota.) 

Old (tanninum.) 
Goitre (brominum. Calcis chlorid. Hy- 
drarg. deuto-iodur. Iodinum. Po- 
tassi bromid. Potass, iodid.) 
Scirrhous (carbo animalis. Sulphuris 
carburetum. Veratria.) 
Gonorrhoea (acidum tannicum. Argenti 
praeparat. Auri praepar. Calcis chlo- 
rid. Chlorin. aq. Creasoton. Cu- 
bebae. Diosma. Ergota.) See Blen- 
norrhoea. 
Gout (aconit. Acupunct. Ammoniated 
counter-irritants. Ballota lanata. 
Colchicum. Compression of arteries. 
Creasoton. Iodinum. Magnes. Moxa. 
Ol. croton. 01. jecinor. aselli. Sul- 
phuris carburetum. Veratria.) 
Atonic (hippocastanum.) 
Chronic (chimaphila. Diosma.) 
Suppressed (ammoniated counter-irri- 
tants.) 
Gouty swellings of bones (potass, iodid.) 
Of the joints (iodinum.) 



INDEX OF DISEASES. 



597 



Gravel (diosma.) 

White (acid. Iact.) 
Growths, morbid (barium iodatum.) 
Gums, scorbutic ulceration of the (crea- 

soton.) 
Gutta rosacea (fuligo. Sulph. iodid.) 
Haematemesis (creasoton. Ergota.) 
Haematuria (diosma. Ergota.) 
Haemoptysis (port, adstring. Brazil. Cre- 
asoton. Ergota. Galeopsis. Lactuca- 
rium. Monesia. Tannin.) 
Head, determinations to the (chlorin. aq ) 
Headach, intermittent (quiniae sulphas.) 
Nervous (strychnia. Ammoniated 
counter-irritants.) See Cephalal- 
gia. 
Hearing, defective, from otorrhcea (cu- 

bebffi.) 
Heart, active diseases of the (aconitia ) 
Enlargement of the (acid, hydrocy- 
anic.) 
Hypertrophy of the (brominum.) 
Hyperuophied (iodin. Potass, bromid. 

Potass, iodid.) 
Spasmodic affections of the (acid, hy- 
drocyan.) 
Hectic fever (chlorin. aq.) 
Hemicrania (acid, hydrocyan. Ferri sub- 

carb. Paullinia.) 
Hemiplegia (nux vomica. Strychnia.) 
Hemorrhage (acid, hydrocyan. Argilla, 
Cort. adstring. Brazil. Creasoton. 
Ferr. iodid. Secale cornutum. Acid, 
tannicum. 
From arteries of the lower limbs. (Com- 
pression of the aorta.) 
Active (acid, hydrocyan.) 
Capillary (creasoton.) 
From the gums (creasoton. 
From leech-bites (creasoton.) 
From the lungs. See Haemoptysis. 
Uterine (creasoton. Argenti oxidum. 
Compression of the aorta. Ferr. 
iodid. Monesia. Ergota. Ferri ci- 
trns. Acidum tannicum.) 
Hemorrhoids, inflammation from (Mo- 
nesia.) 
Hepatic diseases. See Liver Affections. 
Hernia humoralis. See Orchitis. 

Incarcerated (sulphnris carburetum.) 
Herpes (acid, hydrocyan. Calcis chlorin. 
Chlorin. aq. Creasoton. Ferr. car- 
Imr. FuligO. Hydrarg. cyunur. Hy- 
drarg. deuto-iodur. 01. jecinor. asclli 
Potass, bromid. Potass, iodid.) 
Excdens (creasoton.) 
Phagedenic tuberculous (arsenic, io- 
dat.) 
Herpetic ulcers (creasoton.) 



Hiccough, spasmodic (magnes.) 
Hipjoint disease (moxa.) 
Hoarseness (fucus crispus. 01. tiglii.) 
Hooping-cough (acid, hydrocyan. Emetia. 

Ferr. subcarb. 01. tiglii.) 
Hordeolum (hydrarg. iodid. rubr.) 
Hydrocele (acupunct. Electropuncture. 

Chlorin. Iodinum.) 
Hydrocephalus (iodinum.) 
Hydrocyanic acid, poisoning by (chlorin. 

Chlorin. aq.) 
Hydrophobia (cannabis indica. Chlorin. 
aq. Compression of the arteries. 
Guaco.) 
Hydrotliorax (acid, hydrocyan. Colchi- 

cum. Iodinum.) 
Hygroma (iodinum.) 
Hyperaemia (ammoniated counter-irri- 
tants.) See Inflammation. 
Hyperesthesia (potass© chloras.) 
Hyperemesis (tanninum.) 
Hypertrophy (barium-iodatum. Ferr. 
bromat. Ferr. iodid.) 
Of the coats of the stomach (sulph. 

carburet.) 
Of the heart (brominum. Iodin. Potass. 

bromid. Potass, iodid.) 
Of the mamma? (iodinum.) 
Of the spleen (iodin.) 
Of the thymus (iodin.) 
Of the uterus (secale cornutum.) 
Hypochondriasis (auri praeparat. Chlo- 
rin. Strychnia. Veratria.) 
Hysteralgia (euphorb. ol.) 
Hysteria (Cimicifuga. Creasoton. Fuligo. 
Granatum. Lactucarium. Strych- 
nia. Veratria. Zinci ferrohydro- 
cyanur.) 
Hysteric croup (creasoton.) 

Fainting (sulphuris carburetum. 
Convulsions (indigum.) 
Hysterics (ammoniated counter-irritants.) 
Impetigo (acid, hydrocyan. Arsen. iodat. 

Creasoton. 01. jecin. asclli.) 
Impotence (cubebae. Diosma. Iodinum. 

Nux vomica.) 
Incontinence of urine (iodin. Nux vo- 
mica.) 
Indigestion. See Dyspepsia. 
Indurations, glandular, chronic (carho 
animalis. Fuligo Hydrarg. deuto- 
iodid.) 
Of the pancreas (carbo-animalis. Iodin.) 
Chronic (calendula.) 
Chronic, of the mammae (carbo ani- 
malis.) 
Inflammation (acid, hydrocyan. Aconi- 
tia. Compression of arteries.) 
Of the absorbents (iodinum.) 



598 



INDEX OF DISEASES. 



Inflammation — continued. 
Of the bursas (iodinum.) 
Of the bronchia. See Bronchitis. 
Chronic (acid, hydrocyan. Barium 

iodatum. 01. croton.) 
Chronic, of the eustachian tube (cathe- 

terism.) 
Chronic, of the lungs and stomach (ol. 

jecor. aselli.) 
Of the mouth and fauces (chlorin. aq.) 
External (compressio.) 
Of the heart. See Carditis. 
Internal (acid, hydrocyan.) 
Of the joints (iodinum.) 
Of the liver (chlorin. aq.) 
Of the lungs (ammoniated counter-ir- 
ritants.) See Pneumonia. 
Of the mamma (iodinum.) 
Of the pleura (ammoniated counter- 
irritants ) 
Synovial (compressio.) 
Thoracic (acid, hydrocyan.) 
Of the trachea (ammoniated counter- 
irritants.) 
Inflammatory diseases (colchicum. Cort. 
adstring. Brazil. Morphia. 01. 
Sinapis.) 
Integuments, lesions of the (creasoton.) 
Intermittent (cetrarina. Chlorin. aq. 
Cinchonia. Cubeba. Ferr. sub-carb. 
Matias. Ferr.cyanur. Gentiana chi- 
rayita. Hippocastanum. Indigum. 
Matias. Narcotina. Phloridzina. Pi- 
perina. Quinia. Quinise et cinchon. 
tannas. Quinine sulphas. Quinise 
sulphas impurus. Resina chinae 
praepar. Salicina. Soda chlorin.) 
Intertrigo of children (creasoton.) 
Iodine disease, 379. 
Iodinia, 379. 
Iodism, 379. 
Iodkrankheit, 379. 
Iodosis, 379, 381. 
Iralgia (quiniae sulphas.) 
Ischias (oleum sinapis. Veratria.) 
Ischuria (colchicum.) 
Itch (calx chlorin. Chlorin. aq. Crea- 
soton. Fuligo. Sapo mollis.) 
Inveterate (Hydrarg. iodid. rubr.) 
Joints, inflamed (iodinum.) 

Anomalous pains of the (iodinum. 
Chronic inflammation and enlargement 

of the (iodinum.) 
Swelled (ammoniated counter-irritants. 
Calx chlorin.) 
Kidneys, diseases of the (diosma.) 
Kriebelkrankheit, 250. 
Labia pudendi, infiltration of (creasoton.) 
Labour, premature, inducing (ergota.) 



Larynx, chronic engorgements of the 

(iodinum.) 
Leech-bites, hemorrhage from (creasoton.) 
Lepra (arsen. iodid. Auri praeparat. Car- 
bon sesqui-iodid. Chlorin. Hyd. 
et arsen. Iodid. Iodidum ammoniae. 
Sulphur, iodid.) 
Leucorrhoea (acid, tannicum. Chlorin. 
aq. Colchicum. Cort. adstring. 
Brazil. Creasoton. Gentiana chi- 
rayita. Cubebao. Ergota. Ferr. iodid. 
Iodinum. Juglans regia. Liq. Ferr. 
persesquinit. Monesia. Potassii iodo- 
hydrargyras. Salicina.) 
Lichen leproides (ferr. carbur.) 
Liver, affections of the (potass® chloras. 
Berberina. Chlorin. Iodin.) 
Induration of the (hydrarg. deuto- 

iodid. Iodinum.) 
Inflammation of the (chlorin. aq.) 
Obstruction of the (hydrarg. proto- 

iodid.) 
Tubercles of the (iodinum.) 
Lumbago (acupunct. Ammoniated coun- 
ter-irritants. Veratria.) 
Lungs, affections of the (cimicifuga.) 
Gangrene of the (chlorin.) 
and stomach, chronic inflammation of 
the (01. jecor. aselli.) 
Lupus (hydrarg. deuto-iodid. Hyd. et 
arsen. iodid. Iodinum. Zinci chlo- 
rid.) 
Non exedens (sulphur, iodid.) 
Of the ala nasi (ferr. carb. praec.) 
Of the nose (creasoton.) 
Luxations (diosma.) 
Lymphatism (ferr. iodid.) 
Malignant disease (Ferri-citras.) 
Mammary tumour, chronic (iodinum.) 
Mammae, hypertrophied (iodinum.) 

Inflamed (iodinum.) 
Mastitis (iodinum.) 
Measles (chlorin. aq.) 
Menorrhagia (cort. adstring. Brazil. Ferr. 

cyanur. Monesia.) 
Mental affections (auri praeparat.) 
Metritis (acid, hydrocyan.) 
Metrorrhagia (cort. adstring. Brazil. Mo- 
nesia.) See Hemorrhage, uterine. 
Miasmata, destroying (calx chlorin.) 
Milzbrandkarbunkel (chlorin. aq. Zinci 

chlorid.) 
•Mortification, mildew, 250. 
Mouth, inflammation of the, chronic 
(chlorin. aq.) 
Offensive conditions of the (calx chlo- 
rin.) 
Ulceration of the (calx chlorin.) 
Mucous membranes, irritability and ten- 



INDEX OF DISEASES. 



599 



derness of the (Liquor ferri perses- 
quinitratis.) 
Naevi materni (zinci chlorid.) 
Nephralgia (chimaphila.) 
Nephritis (acid, hydrocyan.) 
Nervous coughs (tanninum.) 

Diseases (auri prreparat. Cort. ad- 
string. Brazil. Creasoton. Ferr. 
carb. praec. Ferr. cyanur. Fuligo. Io- 
dinum. Magnes. Morphina. Morphias 
acetas. 01. sinapis. Quinise sulphas. 
Zinci ferrohydrocyanas. Veratria.) 
Chronic (acid, hydrocyan. Liq. argent, 
muriat. ammoniat.) 
Nervous excitement (lactucarium.) 
Neuralgia (acid, hydrocyan. Aconitia. 
Acupunctura. Ammoniated counter- 
irritants. Compression of arteries. 
Creasoton. Delphinia. Electropunct. 
Ferr. carb. prac. Ferr. cyanur. Gal- 
vanism. Magnes. Morphia? acetas. 
Morphia? bimeconas. Moxa. N ux 
vomica. 01. sinapis. Potass, cya- 
nur. Strychnia. Veratria. Zinci fer- 
rohydrocyanur.) 
Of the abdomen (codeia.) 
Faciei (acid, hydrocyan. Artemisia. 
Codeia. Potassa? chloras.) See 
Tic Douloureux. 
Frontal (galvanism.) 
Of the heart (magnes.) 
Pulmonary (magnes.) 
Neuroses (ol. tiglii.) 

Nipples, excoriated (acid. acet. empyr.) 
Catarrhal (lactucarium.) 
Sore (creasoton.) 
Nodes, gouty (sulphur, carb.) 
Noli me tangere (iodinum. Zinci chlo- 
rid urn.) 
Noma (chlorin. aq.) 

Odontalgia (ammoniated counter-irri- 
tants. 01. sinapis.) See Toolhach. 
Rheumatic (01. croton.) 
Odour, offensive (calx chlorin.) 
GEdema (creasoton.) 

Of the feet (acupunct.) 
Oesophagus, stricture of the fiodinum.) 
Offensive evacuations (calx chlorin.) 
Ophthalmia (acid, hydrocyan. Acupunct. 
Creasoton.) 
Catarrhal (calx chlorin* 
Chronic (calx chlorin. Iodinum.; 
Egyptian (tanninum.) 
Neonatorum (calx chlorin.) 
Purulent (calx chlorin. Mom 
Rheumatic ( zinci fcrrohyilrocyan.) 
Scrophulous (auri prsparat. Aiirum 
muriat. Calx chlorin. Potass, iodid. 
Quiniaj sulphas.; 



Ophthalmia — continued. 

Strumous (fuligo. 01. jecor. aselli.) 
Tarsi (acid, pyrolign. Creasoton. Hy- 
drarg. deuto-iodid. Zinci ferro- 
hydrocyanur. Zinci iodidum.) 
Orchitis (compressio. Iodinum.) 
Osteocopi, syphilitic (strychnia.) 
Otalgia (ol. sinapis. 01. tiglii.) 
Otorrhcea (creasoton. Cubebs. Potassii 

bromid.) 
Ovaries, degenerated (iodin.) 
Dropsy of the (iodin.) 
Inflammation of the (hydrarg. cya- 



nur.) 



Carbo animalis. 



Ozsena (calx chlorin. 

Iodinum.) 
Pain, anomalous, of hip and thigh (mor- 
phia bimeconas.) 
Nervous and muscular (ammoniated 

counter-irritants. Moxa.) 
Nocturnal, in the bones (Zinci ferro 

hydrocyanas.) 
Severe (acid, hydrocyan.) 
Pains, after (ergota.) 
Palpitations (magnes. Veratria ) 
Pancreas, induration of the (carbo ani- 
malis.) 
Paralysis (acupunct. Arnica. Brucia. 
Delphinia. Galvanism. Electro- 
punct. Iodinum. Nux vomica. 
Paullinia. Strychnia. Veratria. 
Zinci chlorid. Zinci ferrohydrocy- 
anas.) 
Of the bladder (diosma. Ergota. Strych- 
nia.) 
Of the upper eyelid (ol. croton.) 
Of the facial nerve (strychnia.) 
Lead (brucia.) 
Partial (nux vomica.) 
Of the rectum (nux vomica.) 
Succeeding to apoplexy (nux vomica.) 
Paralytic debility (ammoniated counter- 
irritants.) 
Paraplegia (ergota. Galvanism. Strych- 
nia.) 
Paroxysmal diseases (ergota.) 
Parturient oiforts, defective (cimicifuga. 

Ergota.) 
Pericarditis (ammoniated counter-irri- 
tants.; 
Periodical diseases (ergota.) 
Phlebitis (compressio.) 
Phlegmasia (compressio.) 
Phlegmon (iodinum.) 
Phthisis (acid, hydrocyan. 



Acid. 



acet. 
empyr. Aq.picea. Argilla. Calx 
chlorin. Chlorin. Cimicifuga. Crea- 
soton. Fucub crispus. Galeopsis. 
luilinum. Matias. Moncsia. 01. 



600 



INDEX OF DISEASES. 



croton. Ol.jecor. aselli. Paullinia. 
Potassae chloras. Tanninum.) 
Phthisis, cough of (codeia.) 
Mucosa (galeopsis. lodidurn.) 
Pituitosa (chimaphila.) 
Sweats of (boletus laricis.) 
Pica (caincae radix.) 

Pimples (ammoniated counter-irritants.) 
Pityriasis (hydrarg. et arsen. iodid. Zinci 

chlorid.) 
Placenta, retention of the (ergota.) 
Plague (chlorin. aq.) 

Prevention of (chlorin. aq.) 
Pleuritis. See Inflammation of the 

Pleura. 
Pleurodyne (acupunct.) 
Pneumonia (mannitum.) 

Chronic (hydrarg. cyanuret.) 
Poisoning, by arsenic, (ferri oxyd. hy- 
drat.) 
by arseniate of copper (ferri oxidum 

hydratum.) 
by hydrocyanic acid (chlorin aq.) 
Polypi, cartilaginous (carbo animalis.) 
Mucous (carlio animalis.) . 
Uterine (ergota.) 
Porrigo (acid. acet. empyr. Carbon, ses- 
qui-iodid. Fuligo. 01. jec. aselli. 
Hydrarg. et arsen. iodid.) 
Favosa (creasoton. Hydrarg. bromid. 

Iodinum. Potassii bromid.) 
Scrophulous (auri praeparat.) See 
Tinea. 
Prolapsus vaginae (creasoton.) 
Prosopalgia (ol. sinapis. Potassae chloras. 

Veratria Zinci chlorid.) 
Prostate, diseases of the (diosma.) 

Enlargement of the (carbo animalis. 
Iodinum.) 
Prostatic discharges (cubeba.) 
Prurigo (colchicum.) 

Senilis (aq. amygd. concentrata.) 
Pruritus pudendi muliebris (calx chlorin.) 

Vulvae (fuligo.) 
Psora. See Itch. 

Psoriasis (chlorin. Creasoton. Hydrarg. 
proto-iodid. Hydrarg. et arsen. iodid. 
Iodidum ammonia;. Sulphur, iodid.) 
Palmaris (fuligokali.) 
Pulmonary complaints, chronic (iodi- 
num.) 
Pustule maligne (zinci chlorid.) 
Putrefaction, checking (calx chlorin.) 
Putrescency, tendency to (quinise et cin- 
chona tannas.) 
Pyrosis (argenti oxidum. Nux vomica.) 
Rectum, catarrh of the (cort. adstring. 

Brazil.) 
Remittent fever (ferr. cyanur.) 



Rhagades (ol. jecor. aselli.) 

Rheumatic pains (hydrarg. deuto-iodid.) 

Swellings of the joints (iodinum.) 
Rheumatism (aconite. Acupunct. Am- 
moniated counter-irritants. Anthra- 
kokali. Ballota lanata. Caincae 
radix. Cannabis indica. Chlorin. 
Cimicifuga. Colchicum. Compres- 
sio. Compression of arteries. Crea- 
soton. Delphin. Electropunct. Fuli- 
go. Galvanism. Iodinum. Magnes. 
Morphias acetas. Moxa. Ol. tiglii. 
01. jecinor. aselli. 01. sinapis. Pla- 
tinum. Potassae chloras. Potass, 
cyanur. Sulphuris carburetum. Ve- 
ratria.) 
Articular (aconit.) 

Chronic (aconitia. Chimaphila. Cu- 
beba?. Diosma. Fuligo.) 
Rickets (ferr. iodid. Fuligo. 01. jecor. 

aselli.) 
Ringworm (ammoniated counter-irri- 
tants.) 
Roseola (chlorin aq.) 
St. Vitus's dance (ammoniated counter- 
irritants. Liq. argent, muriat. am- 
nion. Artemisia. IVux vomica. Zin- 
ci chlorid.) 
Salivation, mercurial (calx chlorin.) 
Mercurial (iodinum.) 
Profuse (auri praparat.) 
Sarcomatous tumour of the knee (bro- 

min.) 
Scabies (acid. acet. empyr. Chlorin.) 
Scalds (iodinum ) See Itch. 
Scarlatina (acid. acet. empyr. Calx 
chlorin. Chlorin. aq. Colchicum.) 
Sciatica (acupunct. Potass, cyanur) 
Gouty (acid, hydrocyan ) 
Rheumatic (acid, hydrocyan.) 
Scirrhus (auri prrepar. Ferr. iodid. Po- 
tass, iodid.) 
Of the lips (carbo animalis.) 
Of the mammae (calendula. Carbo 

animalis. Iodin.) 
Of the prostate (carbo animalis.) 
Of the pylorus (acid, hydrocyan. Auri 
praeparat. Zinci ferrohydrocya- 
nur.) 
Of the stomach (artemisia. Iodin.) 
Of the tongue (auri prsparat.) 
Of the uterus (acid, hydrocyan. Auri 
praepar. Iodin.) 
Scrophula (acid, pyrolign. Anthrako- 
kali. Auri cyanur. Auri praepar. 
Brominum. Chlorin. Ferr. bro- 
mid. Ferr. cyanur. Ferr. iodid. 
Fucuscrispus. Hydrarg. deuto-iodur. 
Iodinum. Juglans regia. Monesia. 



INDEX OP DISEASES. 



601 



01. jecor. aselli. Potassii bromid. 
Potass, iodid.) 
Scrophulosis (hydrarg. protoiodid.) 
Scrophulous affections (soda chlorin.) 
Diathesis (carbo animalis.) 
Diseases (barium iodatum.) 
Habit (ferr. cyanur. Aurum mur. na- 

tronat.) 
Swellings (calx chlorin. Carbo ani- 
malis. Chlorin aq. Iodid. quiniaB. 
Iodinum. Plumbi iodid. Potassii 
bromidum. Potassii iodohydrargy- 
ras. Veratria.) 
Swellings of the glands (calx chlorin.) 
Tumefaction of the upper lip (aur. mu- 

riat. natronat.) 
Ulcers (potass, iodid. Hyd. et arsen. 
iodid. Monesia.) 
Scurvy (creasoton.) 
Seasickness (creasoton.) 
Sensibility, unusual, of the abdomen 

(zinei ferrohydrocyanas.) 
Serpents, bites of (caincas radix. Guaco.) 
Serpigo (potass, iodid.) 
Sibbens (hydrarg. et arsen. iodid.) 
Sleeplessness (lactucarium. Magnetism, 

animal. Morphias bimeconas.) 
Sloughing, of cellular membrane (acid, 
acet. empyreum. Iodin.) 
Gangrenous (monesia.) 
Ulcers (calx chlorin.) 
Small-pox (calx chlorin. Chlorin. aq.) 
Sore throat (ammoniated counter-irri- 
tants.) 
Sores, sloughing, gangrenous (acid, py- 
rolign ) 
Syphilitic (hyd. deuto-iodid.) 
Spasmodic diseases (acid, hydrocyan. 
Acupunct. Colchicum. Indigum- 
Magnes. Zinci ferrohydrocyanas.) 
erethism (creasoton.) 
Spasms (ammoniated counter-irritants. 

Magnes.) 
Specks of the cornea (fuligo.) 
Spermatorrhoea (cubeba.) 
Sphacelus (acid. acet. empyr.) 
Spina ventosa (ol. jecor. aselli.) 
Spine, diseases of the (iodinum. Potassii 

iodhydrargyras.) 
Spleen, diseases of the (potass, bromid.) 
Engorgement of the (quiniffi sulphas.) 
Enlarged (ferri subcarb. Hydrarg. 

Deuto-iodid. Iodin.) 
Indurated (iodinum.) 
Sprains (creasoton.) 

Violent (ammoniated counter-irritants.) 
Stauhasthma (acid, hydrocyan.) 
Stings of wasps (iodinum.) 
Stomacace (iodinum.) 
51 



Stomach, coats of the, hypertrophy of the 
(sulph. carbur.) 
Irritability of the (argenti oxidum.) 
Irritation of (codeia.) 
Neuropathic disorders of (acid, hydro- 
cyan.) 
Lungs, chronic inflammation of the 
(ol. jec. aselli.) 
Stomatitis (monesia.) 
Stricture of the Eustachian tube (cathe- 
terism.) 
Of the oesophagus (iodin.) 
Of the urethra (iodin.) 
Spasmodic, of the urethra (diosma.) 
Struma varicosa (carbo animalis.) 
Strumous habits (ferri citras.) 
Suffocation, sense of (acid, hydrocyan.) 
Suppuration, profuse (creasoton.) 
Sweating, profuse (boletus laricis. Tan- 
nin.) 
Sycosis (hydrarg. et arsen. iodid.) 
Syphilis (argenti praaparat. A. etammon. 
chlorid. A. oxidum. Auri cya- 
nur. Auri praeparat. Aurum mu- 
riat. Chlorin. Hydrarg. bromid. 
Hydrarg. cyanur. Hydrarg. deuto- 
iodid.) 
Of children (hydrarg. iodid.) 
Secondary (ferr. iodid. Iodinum.) 
With scrophula (potass, iodid. Hy- 
drarg. iodid. rubr.) 
Syphilitic affections (potassse chloras.) 
Eruptions (ferr. carb. Hyd. et arsen. 

iodid.) 
Excoriations (aurum metallicum.) 
Excrescences (aurum metallicum. Pla- 
tinum.) 
Osteocopi (strychnia.) 
Sore throat (hyd. deuto-iodid.) 
Swellings of the bones (potass, iodid.) 
Ulcers (aurum metallicum. ) 
Tabes mesenterica (ferr. iodid.) 
Taenia (acid, hydrocyan. Brayera an- 
thelmintica. Creasoton. Euphorb. ol. 
Filix mas. Granatum. 01. croton.) 
Tarsi inflamed, chronic (creasoton.) 
Teeth, caries of the (calx chlorin. Mo- 
nesia.) 
Testes, enlarged (iodinum. Potass, iodid.) 
Scrofulous swelling of the (potassii 
bromid.) 
Tetanus (acid, hydrocyan. Ammoniated 
countrr-irritants. Colchicum.) 
Traumatic (cannabis indica. Strychnia.) 
Tetter (iodinum.) Sec Herpes. 
Thoracic inflammation (hydrarg. cyanur.) 
Thymus, hypertrophied (iodin.) 
Tic douloureux (acid, hydrocyan. Aco- 
nitia. Ammoiiiatcd counter-irritants. 



602 



INDEX OF DISEASES. 



Delphinia. Galvanism. Strychnia. 
Veratria.) See Neuralgia. 
Tinea (calx chlorin. Chlorin aq. Fuligo. 

Iodid. sulph.) 
Tone, deficient, general (ferri citras.) 
Tongue, induration of the (auri prapa- 
rat.) 
Malignant ulcers of the (iodinum.) 
Tonsils, enlarged (iodinum.) 

Malignant ulcers of the (iodinum.) 
Toothach (acid, hydrocyan. Acid. acet. 
empyr. Acupunct. Creasoton. Liq. 
ferr. persesquinit. Magnes.) 
Rheumatic (sulph. carbur.) 
Tophi, gouty (iodinum.) 
Tormina (artemisia.) 
Tremors (magnes. Strychnia.) 

From mercury (electro, punct.) 
Trismus (ammoniated counter-irritants.) 
Tubercles (iodinum. 01. jecor. aselli.) 
Of the lung (chlorin. Iodinum.) 
Mesenteric (iodinum.) 
Tubercles, softening of (moxa.) 
Tuberculous eruptions (brominum). 
Tumours of the bones (auri. praeparat.) 
Of the mammae (ol. jecor. aselli) 
Scrophulous (iodid. quiniae. Iodinum.) 
Typhoid fever (aq. chloi. Quiniae sulph.) 
Typhus (calx chlorin. Chlorin. aq. Po- 
tassae chloras. Quinice et cinchonise 
tannas. Sodae chloridum.) 
Abdominalis (chlorini aq.) 
Bilious (calx chlorin.) 
Ulceration of the mouth, (calx chlorin.) 

Of the rectum (moxa.) 
Ulcerative process (iodinum.) 
Ulcers (chlorin. aq. Creasoton. Iodinum. 
01. jecor. aselli. Soda chlorin.) 
Atonic (creasoton. Iodid. sulph. Zinci 

chloridum.) 
Cancerous(calendula. Chlorin aq.Ferr. 

sub-carb. Hydrarg. deuto-iodid.) 
Cancerous, of the face (creasoton.) 
Carious (creasoton.) 
Erosive (zinci chlorid.) 
Fistulous (creasoton.) 
Flabby (acid. acet. empyr.) 
Foul (fuligo.) 

Fungous (acid. acet. empyr.) 
Gangrenous (calx chlorin. Creasoton.) 
Herpetic, &c. (acid. acet. empyr. Crea- 
soton.) 
Fuligo (zinci chlorid.) 
Indolent (creasoton.) 
Malignant (creasoton. Monesia. Zinci 

chlorid ) 
Of the mouth after salivation (potassae 

chloras.) 
Old (iodinum.) 

Phagedenic (monesia. Zinci chlorid.) 
Psoric (fuligo. 



Ulcers, sanious (creasoton.) 
Scorbutic (creasoton.) 
Scrophulous (brominum. Creasoton. 
Hydrarg. protoiodid. Iodinum. Mo- 
nesia. Zinci chlorid. Hyd. et arsen. 
Iodid.) 
Serpiginous (monesia.) 
Sloughing (acid. acet. empyr. Creasot.) 
Sloughing from lying (plumb, tannas.) 
Specific (bromine.) 

Syphilitic (argent, praepar. Aurumme- 

tallicum. Brominum. Creasoton. 

Fer. iodid. Fuligo. Hydrarg. cyanu- 

ret. Hydrarg. proto-iodid. Monesia.) 

Syphilitic, old i zinci chlorid.) 

Torpid, foul, &c. (calx chlorin.) 

foul, (ferr. cyanur.) 
Varicose (creasoton.) 
Urethra, diseases of the (diosma.) 

Mucous membrane of the tumefied 
(carb. anim.) 
Urethritis (ergota.) 

Urinary organs, diseased (chimaphila.) 
Urine, incontinence of (diosma. Iodin.) 

Retention of (ergota.) 
Urticaria (cort. adstring. Brazil.) 
Uterus, cancers of the (ferr. sub-carb.) 
Diseases of the (hydrarg. et arsen. 

iodid.) 
Engorgement of the (ergota.) 
Hard tumours of the (iodinum.) 
Hypertrophy (ergota.) 
Neck of the, fungus of the (aur. nitri- 

co-muriat.) 
Pain of the (acid, hydrocyan.) 
Spasmodic pains of the (acid, hydro- 
cyan.) 
Vagina, inflammation of the (fuligo. Mo- 
nesia.) 
Vaginitis erythemoid (ergota.) 
Varicose veins (acupunct.) 
Venereal. See Syphilitic. 
Venereal infection, prevention of (chlo- 
rin. aq ) 
Vomiting (acid, hydrocyan. Aq. picea. 
Argilla. Creasoton. Strychnia.) 
Chronic (artemisia. Calendula.) 
Obstinate (calendula.) 
Of pregnancy (creasotum. Nux vomica.) 
Warts, malignant (iodinum.) 
Whitlow (iodinum.) 

Worms (caincae radix. Corylus rostrata. 
01. tiglii. Zinci ferrohydrocyanas.) 
Wounds (calx chlorin ) 

Contused (diosma. Iodinum.) 

From dissection (calx chlor. Iodinum.) 

From gunpowder (calx chlorin.) 

Lacerated (iodinum.) 

Painful ("acid, hydrocyan.) 

Poisoned (argilla.) 

Punctured (iodinum.) 



INDEX OF REMEDIES. 



Acetas chinicus, 514. 

morphicus, 429. 

morphii, 429. 

quinicus, 514. 
Acetum ligneum, 13. 
Acid, muriatic dephlogisticated, 146. 
oxygenated, 146. 

auric, 96. 

cyanhydric, 17. 

hydriodic, liquid, 402. 

hydrocyanic, 17. 

hydrocyanic, medicinal, 19. 

lactic, 32. 

nitro-muriatic, 152. 

of milk, 32. 

oxymuriatic, liquid, 155. 

prussic, 17. 

pyroligneous, 17. 

pyrolignic, 13. 

tannic, 34 
Acide hydrocyanique, 17. 

lactique, 32. 

prussique, 17. 

pyro-acetique, 13. 

pyroligneux, 13. 

pyrolignique, 13. 
Acidum aceticum empyreumaticum, 13. 

borussicum, 17. 

cahincicum, 114. 

caincje, 14. 

hydrocyanicum, 17. 

lacteum, 32. 

lactis, 32. 

ligni pyro-olcosum, 13. 

marinum dephlogisticatum, 146. 

muriaticum oxygenatum, 146. 

muriaiicum oxygenatum ad contagia, 
146. 

prussicum, 17. 

pyroaceticum, 13. 

pyrolignosum, 13. 

querchannicum, 34. 

tannicum, 34. 

zooticum, 17. 

zootinicum, 1 7. 



Aconite, extract of, alcoholic, 44. 

extract of, ammoniated, 44. 
Aconitia, 40. 
Aconitine, 40. 
Aconitium, 40. 
Actaea racemosa, 163. 
Actee, 163. 
Acupuncturation, 45. 
Acupuncture, 45, 
^Esculin, 338. 

tEscuIus hippocastanum, 338. 
iEther hydrocyanicus, 53. 

prussicus, 53. 
Aetzroggen, 248. 
Afterkom, 248. 
Agaric blanc, 105. 

white, 105. 
Agaricus albus, 105. 
Agathosma, crenatum, 237. 
Agathotes chirayita, 329. 
Aimant, 414. 
Air douches into the Eustachian tube, 

364. 
Akonitin,40. 
Akupunktur, 45. 
Alaunerde, rcine, 71. 
Alcali vegetabile salito-dephlogisticatum, 

487. 
Alcool de soufre, 562. 
Alcohol sulphuris, 562. 
Alcxiterium chloricum, 146. 
Almond bitter, water of, 58. 
Alumina, acetate of, 55. 

pure, 71. 

salts, 55. 

sulphate of, 55. 
Alumina: sales, 55. 
Alumine factice, 71. 
Aluminum, chloride of, 55. 
Ammonia, arseniate of, 74. 
Arnmoniaque, arseniate d', 74. 
Ammoniated counter-irritants, 190. 
Ammonium arsenicum, 74. 

arseniksaures, 74. 

iodide of, 408. 



604 



INDEX OF REMEDIES. 



Amylum iodatum, 407. 
Anthrakokali, 57. 

sulphuretted, 57. 
Antidynous counter-irritants, 190. 
Aqua amy gd alarum, 58. 

arsenicalis Pearsonii, 75. 

chlorini, ]53. 

natri oxymuriatici, 543. 

oxygenata-muriatica, 153. 

oxygeno-muriatica, 153. 

oxymuriatica, 153. 

picis liquids, 59. 
Argent, chlorure d', 65. 

et d'ammoniaque, chlorure d', 66. 

cyanure d', 67. 

iodure, d', 68. 

oxide d', 69. 
Argenti chloridum, 65. 

chloruretum, 65. 

cyanidum, 67. 

cyanu return, 67. 

et ammoniaci chloruretum, 66. 

et ammonise chloridum, 66. 

ioduretum, 68. 

iodidum, 68. 

muriatico-ammoniati liquor, 66. 

oxidum, 69 

praeparata, 62. 
Argentum chloratum, 65. 

cyanogenatum, 67. 

divisum, 70. 

iodatum, 68. 

limatum, 70. 

muriaticum, 65. 

muriaticum ammoniatum, 66. 

oxydatum, 69. 

salitum, 65. 
Argil, pure, 71. 
Argilla pura, 71. 
Armoise commune, 78. 
Arnica, 73. 

montana, 73. 

plauensis, 73. 
Arnique, 73. 
Arsenias ammonia, 74. 

potassas acidus, 267. 
Arseniate of soda, 75. 
Arsenic, iodide of, 76. 

and mercury, double iodide of, 357. 
Arsenici iodidum, 76. 

et hydrargyri iodidum, 357. 

et hydrargyri hydriodas, 357. 
Arsenite of potassa, 75. 
Arsenicum iodatum, 76. 
Arsenikiodur, 76. 
Artemisia vulgaris, 78. 

extractum resinosum, 78. 
Aspidium filix mas, 312. 
Athyrium filix mas, 312. 
Auri chloretum, 87. 



Auri chloretum cum chloreto natrii, 90. 

chloridum, 87. 

chloruretum, 87. 

cyanidum, 93. 

cyanuretum, 93. 

et sodii chloridum, 90. 

et sodii chloruretum, 90. 

et sodii perchloruretum, 90. 

iodidum, 95. 

ioduretum, 95. 

murias, 87. 

nitromurias, 96. 

oxidum, 96. 

praeparata, 83. 

pulvis, 98. 

terchloridum, 87. 

teroxidum, 96. 
Aurico-natricum murias, 90. 
Aurii tercyanidum, 93. 
Auro-terchloride of sodium, 90. 
Aurum chloratum, 87. 

chloratum natronatum, 90. 

limatum, 98. 

metallicum, 98. 

muriaticum, 87, 90. 

muriaticum natronatum, 91. 

nitrico-muriaticum, 96. 

oxydatum, 96. 

oxydulatum muriaticum, 87. 

salitum, 87. 
Bachelor's buttons, 446. 
Balaustier, 330. 
Ballota lanata, 99. 
Bang, 133. 
Barii iodati hydras, 101. 

iodidum, 101. 
Barium, iodide of, 101. 
Bark, resiiaous constituent of the, 535. 

astringent, of Brazil, 197. 
Barosma crenata, 237. 
Baryt hydriodsaurer, 101. 
Baryta hydriodica, 101. 

hydriodate of, 101. 
Barytin, 574. 
Beifusswurzel, 78. 

gemeiner, 78. 
Berberin, 102. 
Berberina, 102. 
Berberine, 102. 
Berberinum, 102. 
Bergerthran, 433. 
Berliner Blau, 275. 
Betoine des Savoyards, 73. 
Bignonia catalpa, 104. 
Biogamia, 329. 
Biomagnetismus, 329. 
Bisulphuretum carbonii, 562. 
Bitter almonds, water of, 58. 

oil of, 58. 
Bittermandelwasser, 58. 






INDEX OF REMEDIES. 



605 



Blaud's pills, 306. 

Blausaure, 17. 

Blausaures eisenoxydul zinkoxid, 587. 

Blaustoffeisen, 275. 

Blaustoffquecksilber, 343. 

Blausaures quecksilber, 343. 

Blaustoffkalium, 493. 

BlaustufTsilber, 67. 

Blaustoffzink, 587. 

Ble cornu, 248. 

Bled avorte, 248. 

farouche, 248. 
Blei hydriodsaures, 488. 

iodwasserstoffsaures, 483. 
Bleiiodid, 483. 
Bleu de Prusse, 275. 
Blue, Prussian, 275. 

Berlin, 275. 
Bocchoe, 237. 
Bocho, 237. 
Bole, Armenian, 71. 
Boletus Albus, 105. 

laricis, 105. 

purgans, 105. 
Boocho, 237. 

Brayera anthelmintica, 106. 
Brechstoff, 243. 
Brom, 107. 
Brome, 107. 
Bromeisen, 269. 
Bromhydras potassse, 491. 
Bromidum potassii, 491. 
Bromine, 107. 
Bromineum, 107. 
Brominium, 107. 
Brominum, 107. 
Bromium, 107. 
Bromkalium, 491. 
Bromquecksilber, 341. 
Bromuretum kalii, 491. 
Bromuretum potassicum, 491. 
Bromwasserstoffsaures kali, 49). 
Brucia, 111. 
Brucina, 111. 
Brucine, 111. 
Brush, galvanic, 228. 

metallic, 328. 
Buccubliitter, 237. 
Buchu, 237. 
Buckeye, 338. 
Buckhu, 237. 
Bugbane, 163. 
Buranhcm, 419. 
Ca;ruleum Beroliniense, 275. 

borussicum, 275. 
Cahincffl radix, 1 14. 
Cainanrc radix, 1 14. 
Cainca root, 1 14. 
Caincawurzel, 114. 

51* 



Gaines acidum, 117. 

Calcar, 248. 

Calcaria chlorata, 121. 

chloretum, 121. 

chlorica, 121. 
Calcarise chlorum, 121. 
Calcii oxychloruretum, 121. 

Oxydichloruretum, 121. 

Proto-chloruretum, 121. 
Galcis bichloruretum, 121. 

chloridum, 121. 

hypochloris, 121. 

oxymurias, 121. 
Calcium, oxide de, chlorure d', 121. 

protoxichlorure de, 121. 
Calendula Alpina, 73. 

officinalis, 117. 

sativa, 117. 
Calendulin, 117. 
Caltha Alpina, 73. 

sativa, 117. 
Calx chlorinata, 121. 

oxymuriatica, 121. 
Caninanae radix, 114. 
Cannabis indica, 133. 
Caper spurge, 265. 
Carbo animalis, 136. 

carnis, 136. 

mineralis, 270. 
Carbon, sesqui-iodide of, 140. 

sesqui-ioduret of, 140. 
Carboneum sulphuratum, 562. 
Carbonis sesqui-iodidum, 140. 

sesqui-ioduretum, 140. 
Carbure de soufre, 562. 
Carburet of sulphur, 562. 
Carrageen moss, 160. 
Castanea equina, 338. 

pavina, 338. 
Catalpa, 104. 

arborea, 104. 

arborescens, 104. 

cordifolia, 104. 

tree, 104. 
Cataputia minor, 265. 
Catawba tree, 104. 

Catheterism of the Eustachian tube, 364 
Cetrarina, 141. 
Charbon animal, 136. 
Charcoal, animal, 136. 
Chaux, chlorate de, 121. 

chlorure de, 121 

muriate suroxig£ne ou oxigene" de, 
121. 

oxichlorure de, 121. 

oximuriate dc, 121. 

souschlorate de, 121. 
Chestnut, horse, 338. 
Chimaphila, 143. 



606 



INDEX OF REMEDIES. 



ChimophiIa,143. 
Chinastoff, 512. 
Chinicus citras, 514. 

hydrochloricus, 517. 
Chinii acetas, 514. 
ferrocyanas, 516. 
hydrochloras, 517. 
murias, 517. 
nitras, 518. 
phosphas, 519. 
sulphas, 519. 
Chinin, 512. 

citronsaures, 515. 
eisenblausaures, 516. 
essigsaures, 514. 
gerbsaures, 534. 
gerbstolVsaures, 534. 
hydrochlorsaures, 517. 
phosphorsaures, 519. 
saltpetersaures, 517. 
salzsaures, 517. 
schwefelsaures, 519. 
sulphat,519. 
tanninsaures, 534. 
zitronsaures, 515. 
Chinini citras, 515. 

phosphas, 519. 
Chininum, 512. 

resino-sulphuricum, 535. 
Chinioidinc, 535. 
Chinium, 512. 
aceticum, 514. 
citricum, 515. 
ferro-cyanogenatum, 516. 
ferro-hydrocyanicum, 516. 
hydrochloricum, 517. 
muriaticum, 517. 
nitricum, 518. 
phosphoricum, 519. 
salitum, 517. 
sulphuricum, 519. 
tannicum, 534. 
Chinoidine, 535. 
Chiococcas radix, 114. 
Chirayita, 329. 
Chiretta, 329. 
Chlor, 146. 

Chloras kalicus depuratus, 487. 
Chloras potassicus, 487. 
Chlorate de potasse, 487. 
Chlore, 146. 
eau de, 153. 
liquide, 153. 
Chloretura auri, 87. 
Chloretum auri cum chloreto natrii,90. 
calcarise, 121. 
zinci, 582. 
Chlorgas, 146. 
Chlorgold, 87. 



Chlorgoldnatronium, 90. 
Chlorhydras morphicus, 434. 

quinicus, 517. 
Chlori aqua, 153. 

liquor, 153. 
Chloride of soda, 543. 

of zinc, 582. 
Chlorine, 146. 

solution of, 153. 
Chlorini aqua, 153. 
Chlorinum, 146. 
Chlorkalk, 121. 
Chlornatron, 543. 
Chlorsaures kali, 487. 
Chlorsilber, 65. 
Chlorsodaflussigkeit, 543. 
Chlorum, 146. 

calcaris, 121. 
Chlorure d'argent, 65. 
argenli et ammonia?, 66. 
d'or. 

d'oxide de sodium, 543. 
de soude, 543. 
Chloruretum argenti, 65- 
auri, 87. 
auri et sodii, 90. 
oxidi calcii, 121. 
oxidi sodii, 543. 
potassue oxidatum, 487. 
Chlorwasser, 153. 
Chlorzink, 582. 
Chondrus, 160. 
crispus, 160. 
polymorph us, 160. 
Christophskraut traubenfdrmi 
Chrysanthemum, 117. 
Churrus, 134. 
Cimicifuga, 1 63, 
Cinchonia, 166. 
Cinchonir.e, 166. 
Citras chinicus, 515. 

quinicus, 515. 
Clavis secalinus, 248. 

siliginis, 248. 
Clou de seigle, 248. 
Codeia, 170. 
Codeine, 170. 
Codliver oil, 453. 
Cohort, 163. 
Cohosh, 163. 
Colchicia, 175. 
Colchicum, 175. 

autumnale, 175. 
Colchique, 175. 
Compressio, 183. 
Compression, 183. 
methodical, 183. 
Contra-irritation, 190 
Corrigeen moss, 160 



163. 



INDEX OF REMEDIES. 



607 



Cortex adstringens Brasiliensis, 197. 
Corylus rostrata, 20 0. 
Counter-action, 190. 
Counter-irritant lotions, Granville's, 190. 

ammoniated, 190. 

antidynous, 190. 

Gondret's, 190. 

Granville's, 190. 

Raspail's, 190. 
Counter-irritation, 190. 
Crayon noir, 270. 
Creasote, 201. 
Creosote, 201, 

Crocus martis aperiens, 308. 
Croton oil, 464. 
Crusadinha raiz, 114. 
Cubeba, 228. 
Cubebin, 228. 
Cubebs, 228. 
Cyanather, 53. 
Cyaneisen, 275. 
Cyaneisenzink, 588. 
Cyanetum kalii, 493 
Cyanhydras kalicus, 493. 
Cyanidum kalii, 493. 

potassii, 493. 
Cyankalium, 493. 
Cyanquecksilber, 273. 
Cyansilber, 67. 
Cyanure d'argent, 67. 

de mercure, 343. 

oxidum rubrum, 308. 

de potassium, 493. 

de zinc, 587. 
Cyanuretum ferrozincicum, 588. 

potassicum, 493. 

argenti, 67. 
Cyanwasserstoffsaure, 17. 
Cyanzink, 587. 

Delphia, 234. 
Delphina, 234. 
Delphinia, 234. 
Delphinine, 234. 
Derosne's opiumsalz, 443. 
Diosma, 237. 
Diosmin, 237. 
Doronic d'Allemagne, 73. 
Doronicum Germanicum, 73. 

Plantnginis folio, 73. 
Druck, 183. 
Duftstrauchblutter, 237. 

Eau d'amandcs amcrcs, 58. 

de clilore, 153. 

de coudron, 59. 

de Javelle, 543. 

mldicinale d'HuBson, 178. 
Eisencyaniircyanid, 275. 
Eisenoxyd, ciscnblausaures, 275. 



Eisenoxyhydrat, 295. 
Eisenoxydul arsensaures, 267. 
arseniksaures, 267. 
blausaures, 275. 
citronsaures, 275. 
hydriodsaures, 279. 
kohlensaures, 303. 

salzsaures, 303. 
Eisenpraparate, 267. 
Eleclricitas animalis, 324. 

galvanica seu metallica, 324. 
Electro-magnetism, 328. 
Electropunctura, 240. 
Electropuncturation, 240. 
Elixir of opium, M'Munn's, 438. 
Emeta, 243. 
Emetia, 243. 
Emetina, 243. 
Emetine of the violet, 244. 

indigenous, 244. 
Ergot, 248. 
Ergota, 248. 
Ether, hydrocyanic, 53. 

acetous, injections of, into the Eusta- 
chian tube, 364. 

prussic, 53. 
Eupatorium huaco, 335. 
Euphorbia lathyris, 265. 
Exoneurism, 328. 

Extract, alcoholic, of nux vomica, 446. 
Extractum nucis vomicee alcoholicum, 

446. 
Extractum opii aceticum, 436. 
Extrait alcoholique de noix vomique, 446. 

savonneux de l'urine, 569. 
Extrakt geistiges der krahenaugen, 446. 
Fallkraut, 73. 
Farrenkraut, 312. 
Fer, arseniate de, 267. 

bromure de, 269. 

carbure de, 275. 

citrate de. 273. 

hydrate, deutocyanure de, 275. 

hydriodate de, 279. 

iodure de, 279. 

preparations de, 267. 

protocarbonate de, 303. 

proto-iodurc de, 279. 

souscarbonate de, 308. 

tritohydrocyanate ferrure" de, 275. 

trito-hvdroferro-cyanate de, 275. 
Fern, male. 312. 
Ferri arsenias, 267. 

borussias, 275. 

bromidum, 269. 

carbonas, 303, 308. 

carbonas prrecipitatas, 308. 

carbonas saceharatum, 304. 

carburetum, 270. 



60S 



IXDEX OF REMEDIES. 



Ferri citras, 273. 

cyanuretum, 275. 

deuto-carbonas fuscus, 308. 

et quinice citras, 275. 

ferrosesquicyanidum, 275. 

ferrocyanuretum. 275. 

hydriodas, 279. 

hydrobromas, 269. 

iodidum, 279. 

ioduretum, 279. 

lactas, 290. 

nitras, 293. 

nitratis liquor, 293. 

nitrici oxydati liquor, 293. 

oxydi ferrocyanas, 295. 

oxydulatum hydrocyanicum, 275. 

oxydum fuscum, 308. 

oxydum hydratum, 295. 

percyanidum, 275. 

persesquinitratis liquor, 293. 

praeparata, 267. 

protocarbonas, 303. 

sesquicyanidum, 275. 

sesquioxydum, 295, 308. 

subcarbonas, 308. 
Ferrugo, 295. 
Ferrum arseniatum, 267. 

arsenicum oxydulatum, 267. 

borussicum, 270. 

bromatum, 269. 

carbonatum, 270. 

carbonatum praecipitatum, 308. 

carbonicum oxydulatum, 308. 

carbonicum saccharatum, 305. 

carburetum, 270. 

cyanogcnatum, 275. 

cyanuretum, 275. 

hydriodatum, 279. 

hydroiodicum oxydulatum, 279. 

iodatum, 279. 

nitratum, 293. 

oxydatum hydratum, 295 

oxydulatum hydrocyanicum, 275. 

supercarburetum, 270. 

zooticum, 275. 
Filix mas, 312. 
Fleischkohle, 136. 
Fougere male, 312. 
Fucus amylaceus, 314. 

crispus, 160. 
Fuligo, 316. 

ligni, 316. 

splendcns, 316. 
Fuligokali, 321. 

Fumigatio muriatico-oxgenata, 146. 
Fumigation de chlor, 146. 

de Guyton, 146. 

Guytonienne, 146. 

hygienique, 146. 



Fungus of the larch, 105. 

laricis, 105. 
Galeopsis grandiflora, 322. 

ochroleuca, 322. 

segetum, 322. 

versicolor, 324. 

villosa, 324. 
Galvanic brush, 328. 

plates, 326. 

suppository, 328. 
Galvanism, 324. 
Galvanopuncture, 240. 
Gebarpulver, 248. 
Gegenreizung, 190. 
Gentiana chirayita, 329. 
Gerbsaiire, 34. 
Gerbestoff, 34. 
Gerbestoffblei, 486. 
Gichtthran, 453. 
Glanzruss, 316. 
Goharem, 419. 
Gold chlorid, 87. 

and soda, hydrochlorate of, 90. 
muriate of, 90. 

and sodium, chloride of, 90. 

hydrochlorate of, 9 
muriate of, 90. 

chloride of, 87. 

cyanide of, 93. 

cyanuret of, 93. 

iodide of, 95. 

ioduret of, 95. 

metallic, 98. 

metallisches, 98. 

muriate of, 87. 

natriutn-chlorid, 90. 

natrum-chlorid, 90. 

natrum-^alzaures, 90. 

nitro-muriate of, 96. 

oxide of. 96. 

oxydirtes, 96. 

oxydulsalzsaures, 87. 

peroxide of, 96. 

praparate, 83. 

preparations of, 83. 

pulver, 98. 

saltpetersalzsaures, 96. 

salzsaures, 87. 

terchloride of, 87. 

tercyanide of, 93. 
Gondret's counter-irritants, 190. 
Granatin, 331, 416. 
Granatum, 330. 
Granatwurzelrinde, 330. 
Granita radicis cortex, 330. 
Granville's counter-irritants, 190. 
Graphites, 270. 
Green, winter, 143. 
Grenadier, 330. 



INDEX OF REMEDIES. 



609 



Grenadin, 331, 416. 

Guaco, 335. 

Guarana, 473. 

Gunjah, 133. 

Haloidum oxygenatum, 487. 

Hanfnessel, grossblumigte, 322. 

HarnstofT, 569. 

Hazel, beaked, 200. 

Hemp, Indian, 133. 

Henrica pharmacearcha, 329. 

Herba sideriditis, 322. 

Herbe a pisser, 143. 

Herbe Saint Christophe, 163. 

Herbstblume, 175. 

Herbstzeitiose, 175. 

Hippocastanum, 338. 

Hohlzahns, grossbliithigen, 322. 

Holzessig, 1 3. 

Holzsaure, 13. 

brenzliche oder brandige, 13. 
Hornseed, 248. 
Horse chestnut, 338. 
Huaco, 335. 
Huile de foie de poisson, 453. 

de Morue, 453. 

de pignon d'fnde, 464. 

volatile de moutarde, 461. 
Hydrargyri bicyanidum, 343. 

borussias, 343. 

bromiduni, 341. 

cyanidum, 343. 

deuto-bromidum, 341. 

cyanuretum, 343. 

deuto-iodidum, 352. 

deuto-ioduretum, 352. 

hydrocyanas, 343. 

iodidulatum, 348. 

iodidum, 348. 

iodidum rubrum, 352. 

perbromidum, 341. 

periodidum, 352. 

prseparata, 341. 

protobromidum, 341. 

proto-iodidum, 348. 

proto-ioduretum, 348. 

prussias, 343. 

et arsenici iodidum, 357. 
Hydrargyrum biniodidum, 352. 

bromatum, 341. 

cyanogenatum, 343. 

hydrocyanicuni, 343. 

iodatum, 348. 

flavum, 348. 
rubrum, 352. 

iodidum, 348. 

iodidulatum, 348. 

perliromatum, 341. 

periodatum, 352. 
Hydras ferricus, 295. 



I Hydriodas kalicus, 498, 

lixiviae,498. 
Hydriodate of ammonia, 408. 

of potassa, 493. 
Hydriodic acid, liquid, 402. 
Hydrobromsaures kali, 491. 
Hydrochloras morphicus, 434. 

chinicus, 517. 
Hydrocyanas kalicus, 493. 
Hydrocyanicus aether, 53. 
Hydrocyansaure, 17. 
Indicum, 360. 
Indicus color, 360. 
Indig, 360. 
Indigo, 360. 
Indigum, 360. 
Infusum picis liquids, 59. 

picis empyreumaticse liquids, 59. 
Injections of air, &c. into the Eustachian 

tube, 364. 
Iod, 371. 
Iodarsen, 76. 
Iodarsenik, 76. 
Iodb'aryum, 101. 
Iodblei. 483. 
lode, 371. 
Iodeisen, 279. 

Iodhydras Kalicus seu Potassce, 493. 
Iodide of ammonium, 408. 

of arsenic, 76. 

of quinia.. 407. 

of starch, 407. 

of sulphur, 567. 

of zinc, 591. 
Iodidum ammonia, 408. 

amyli, 407. 

arsenici, 76. 

baryi, 101. 

hydrargyricum, 352. 

hydrargyrosum, 348. 

plumbi, 483. 

potassii,493. 

quiniae, 407. 
Iodine, 371. 
lodinium, 371. 
Iodinschwcfel, 468. 
lodinum, 371. 
Iodium, 371. 
[odkalium,498. 

Iodohydrargyrate of potassium, 509. 
Iodquecksilbcr, gelbes, 348. 

im maximum, 352. 

im minimum dcs iods, 348. 

rothcs, 342. 
[odechwefel, 567. 
rodsilber, 68. 
lodstarke, 407. 
lodetarkmehl, 407. 
lodum, 371. 



610 



INDEX OP REMEDIES. 



lodure d'amidon, 407. 
de potasse, 493. 
de soufre, 567. 
Ioduret of quinia, 407. 

of sulphur, 567. 
Ioduretum ammonii, 408. 
amyli, 407. 

arsenici, 76. 

potassicum, 498. 
Iodzink, 591. 
Iron, arseniate of, 267. 

and quinia, citrate of, 275. 

bromated, or bromide of, 269. 

carbonate of, 303. 

carburet of, 270. 

citrate of, 273. 

cyanuret of, 275. 

hydriodate of, 279. 

hydrobromate of, 269. 

hydro-oxide of, 295. 

iodated, 279. 

iodide of, 279. 

ioduret of, 279. 

lactate of, 290. 

nitrate of, solution of, 293. 

oxide of, hydrated, 295. 

oxyhydrate of, 295. 

peroxide of, 308. 

peroxide of, hydrated, 295. 

persesquinitrate of. solution of, 293. 

preparations of, 267. 

proto-carbonate of, 303. 

proto-iodide of, 279. 

proto-ioduret of, 279. 

protoxide of, hydriodate of, 279. 

protoxide of, lactate of, 290. 

prussiate of, 275. 

sesquioxide of, 308. 

sesquioxide of, hydrated, 295. 

subcarbonate of, 308. 

tritoxide of, hydrated, 295. 
Irritamentum metallorum seu metallicum, 

324. 
Johanni.-iwurzel, 312. 
Juglans regia, 408. 
Kabliauthran, 453. 
Kahincffi radix, 114. 
Kali bromwasserstoffsaures, 491. 

chloricum, 487. 

chlorsaures, 487. 

hydriodsaures, 493. 

hydrobromicum, 491. 

hydrocyanicum, 493. 

hydroiodinicum, 498. 

hydriodicum, 498. 

iodwasserstoffsaures, 498. 

iodatum hydrargyratum, 509. 

muriaticum hyperoxygenatum, 487. 

olsaures, 540. 



Kali oxymuriaticum, 487. 
Kalii cyanuretum,493. 

cyanetum, 493. 

cyanidum, 493. 

iodidum, 498. 
Kaliseife, 540. 
Kalium bromatum,491. 

bromid, 491. 

bromure, 491. 

cyanogenatum, 493. 

cyanure, 493. 

iodatum, 498. 

iodiire, 498. 
Kalkchlorid, 121. 
Kaminruss, 316. 
Kinine, 512. 
Kininum, 512. 
Kodein, 170. 
Kohle, thierische, 136. 
Kohlenschwefel, fliissiger, 562. 
Kohlenstoffeisen, 270. 
Kohlensulfurid, 562. 
Krahenaugen, 446. 

bitter, 545. 

geistiges extrakt der, 446. 

stoff, 545. 
Krauser tang, 160. 
Kreasot, 201. 
Kreasote, 201. 
Kreasoton, 201. 
Kreasotum, 201. 
Kreosote, 201. 
Krotonol, 464. 
Kubebenpfeffer, 228. 
Kubebin, 228. 
Labarraque's disinfecting liquid, 131, 

543. 
Lactucarium,411. 
Lathyris, 265. 
Lattichopium, 41 1. 
Lattigbitter, 411. 
Lattigmilchsaft, 411. 
Lead, black, 270. 

iodide of, 483. 

ioduret of, 483. 

tannate of, 486. 
Leberthran, 453. 
Leonurus lanata, 99. 
Leopard's bane, 73. 
Lerschenschwamm, 105. 
Lettuce opium, 411. 
Lichen carrageen, 160. 
Lime, chloride of, 121. 

chlorinated, 121. 

chlorite of, 121. 

chloruret of, 121. 

hypochlorite of, 121. 

oxymuriate of, 121. 
Liqueur desinfectante de Labarraque,131 






INDEX OF REMEDIES. 



611 



Liquid, disinfecting, Labarraque's, 543. 
Liquor acidi muriatici oxygenati, 153. 

alexiterius oxygenatus, 153. 

argenti muriatico-ammoniata, 67. 

disinfecting, of Labarraque, 131. 

ferri iodidi, 283. 

ferri nitratis, 293. 

ferri nitrici oxydati, 293. 

ferri persesquinitratis. 293. 

hydrodatus arsenici et hydrargyri, 357- 

morphiae citratis, 347. 

natri cbloreti, 543. 

opii sedativus, 347. 

sodae chioridi, 543. 

chlorinates, 543. 
Macrotrys racemosa, 163. 
Magnes, 414, 
Magnet, 414. 
Magnetism, animal, 329. 
Malogranatum, 330. 
MannastofT, 415. 
Mannazucker, 415. 
Mannite 415. 
Mannitum, 415. 
Marigold, garden, 117. 

single, 117. 
Marronier, 338. 

d' Inde, 338. 
Matias, 417. 
Matiere de Derosne, 443. 

vomitive, 243. 
Matter of Derosne, 443. 
Mercure, cyanure de, 343. 

deuto-iodure de, 352. 

hydrocyanate de, 343. 

periodure de, 352. 

preparations de, 341. 

protoiodure de, 343. 

prussiate de, 343. 
Mercury and arsenic, hydrodate of, 357. 

iodide of, 357. 
Mercury, bicyanide of, 343. 

biniodide of, 343. 

bromide of, 341. 

cyanide of, 343. 

deutoiodide of, 351. 

hydrocyanate of, 343. 

iodoarsenite of, 357. 

iodide of, red, 352. 

periodide of, 352. 

preparations of, 341. 

protoiodide of, 348. 

proto-ioduret of, 348. 

prussiate of, 343. 
Mere de Seigle, 248. 
Mesmerism, 329. 
Milchaaure, 32. 
Mohnstoff, 423. 
Moleplant, 265. 



Monesia, 418. 
Monesin, 419. 
Morphei acetas, 329. 
Morpheum, 423. 
Morphia, 423. 

acetate of, 429. 

bimeconate of, 437. 

muriate of, 434. 

sulphate of, 436. 
Morphiae acetns, 429. 
Morphii murias, 434. 

sulphas, 436. 
Morphin, 423. 

essigsaures, 429. 

salzsaures, 434. 

schwefelsaures, 436- 
Morphina, 423. 
Morphinae acetas, 429. 

bimeconas, 437. 

hydrochloras, 434. 

murias, 434. 

sulphas, 436. 

tartras, 347. 
Morphine, 423. 

acetate of, 429. 

bimeconate of, 437. 

citrate of, 437. 

muriate of, 434. 

sulphate of, 436. 

tartrate of, 437. 
Morphinum, 423. 
Morphium, 423. 

acetat, 429. 

aceticum, 429. 

hydrochloras, 434. 

murias, 434. 

muriaticum, 434. 

sulphas, 436. 

sulphuricum, 436. 
Mort aux chiens, 105. 
Moss, carrageen, 160. 

Ceylon, 313. 

corrigeen, 160. 

Irish, 160. 

marine, 314. 
Mousse d'Irlande, 160. 

perlee, 160. 
Moxa, 438. 
Moxiburium, 438. 
Mugwort, 78. 

Murias auiico-nitricum, 90. 
Muriate d'or, 87. 
Mu ride, 107. 
Murigene, 146. 
MuBtardeeed oil, 461. 
Mutterkorn, 248. 
Nadelstich, 45. 
Narcotina, 443. 

muriate of, 444. 



12 



INDEX OP REMEDIES. 



Narda celtica altera, 73. 

Narkotin, 443. 

Natronwasser, oxydirt salzsaures, 543. 

Natrum chloratum, 543. 

chloricum, 543. 

oxymuriaticum, 543. 
Nephrine, 569. 
Nephrodium filix mas, 312. 
Neurogamia, 329. 
Niessvvurzstoff, 572. 
Nitro-muriatic mixture, 152. 
Noix vomique, 446. 

extrait alcoolique de, 446. 
Noyer, 408. 
Nux vomica, 446. 

extract, alcoholic, of, 446. 

Ofenruss, 316. 

Oil of bitter almonds, 58. 

cod, 453. 

codliver, 453. 

croton, 464. 

of mustard seed, 461. 
Oleum aethereum riorum arnicae, 73. 

aethereum seminum sinapis, 461. 

crotonis, 464. 

euphorbise lathyridis, 265. 

jecoris aselli, 453. 

morrhuae, 453. 

sinapis, 460. 

tiglii, 464. 

volatile seminum sinapis, 461. 
Opiane, 443. 
Opium, alkaloid, 423. 

lettuce, 411. 
Or, chlorure d\ 87. 

cyarmre d', 93. 

divise, 98. 

metallique, 98. 

muriate d', 87. 

oxide, 96. 

preparations d', 83. 

protoiodure d', 95. 

et soude, hydrochlorate d', 90. 

et soude muriate d', 90, 
Oxide d'argent, 69. 
Oxydirtes silber, 69. 
Oxydirt-salzsaures natronwasser, 543. 
Oxydum argenti, 69. 
Panacea lapsorum, 73. 
Papaverine, 423. 
Pariser blau, 275. 
Paullinia, 473. 
Pfefferstofi; 476. 
Phloiorrhizina, 474. 
Phloridzin, 474. 
Phlorizin, 474. 
Pierre d'aimant, 414. 
Pigmentum indicum, 360. 



Pills, Blaud's, 306. 

Pills, ferruginous, of Vallet, 304. 

Piper caudatum, 228. 

cubeba, 228. 
Piperin, 228, 476. 
Piperinia, 476. 
Pipsissewa, 143. 
Platina preparations of, 481. 

bichloride of, 481. 

perchloride of, 481. 

preparations of, 480. 
Platine, bichlorure de, 481. 

perchlorure de, 481. 

et sodium, chlorure double de, 482. 
Platini bichloridum, 481. 

perchloridum,481. 

praeparata, 480. 
Platinum, 481. 
Platinum and sodium, double chloride of, 

482. 
Plomb, iodure de, 483. 

tannate de, 486. 
Plombagine, 270. 
Plumbago, 270. 
Plumbi bydriodas, 483. 

iod hydras, 483. 

iodidum, 483. 

ioduretum, 483. 

tannas, 486. 
Plumbum iodatum, 483. 

hydroiodicum, 483. 
Pneumokatharterion, 130. 
Poison nut, 446. 
Poivre a queue, 228. 
Polypodium filix mas, 312. 
Polyporus officinalis, 105. 
Pomegranate, 330. 
Potass, arsenite of, 75. 

chlorate of, 487. 

hydrocyanate of, 493. 

hydriodate of, 498. 

hydriodate of, ioduretted, 498. 

hydrobromate of, 491. 

hyperoxy muriate of, 487. 

oxymuriate of, 487. 
Potassae bromhydras, 491. 

chloras, 487. 

cyan hydras, 493. 

euchloras, 487. 

hydriodas, 498. 

hydrobromas, 491. 

hydrocyanas, 493. 

murias hyperoxygenatum, 487. 

murias oxygenatum,. 487. 
Potasss bromure de, 491. 

chlorate de, 487. 

hydriodate de, 499. 

iodure de, 499. 
Potassii bromidum, 491. 



INDEX OF REMEDIES. 



613 



Potassii cyanidum, 493. 

cyanuretum, 493. 

iodidum, 498. 

iodohydrargyras, 509. 

ioduretum, 498. 

hydrargyro-iodidum, 509. 

oxygeno-chloruretum, 487. 

proto-hydriodas, 499. 

protoxidi hydriodas, 499. 
Potassium, bromide of, 491 

cyanide of, 493. 

cyanuret of, 493. 

dihydrargyro-biniodide of, 509. 

hydrargyro-iodide of, 509. 

iodide of, 498. 

iodohydrargyrate of, 509. 

ioduret of iodohydrargyrate of, 509. 

ioduret of, 498. 

protoxide of, chlorate of, 487. 
Potio picea, 59. 
Poudre de blanchement, 121. 

de Tennant, 121. 
Powder, bleaching, Tennant's, 121. 
Principium adstringens, 34. 

scytodephicum, 34. 
Prussiate de potasse et de fer, 275. 
Ptarmica montana, 73. 
Pulvis ad fumigationes muriaticas, 146. 
Punica granatum, 330. 
Pyrola umbellata, 143. 
Pyrole en ombelle, 143. 
Queckzilber blausaures, 343. 

bromid, 341. 

bromur, 341. 

deutoiodiir des, 352. 

iodid, 348, 352. 

iodid gelbes, 348. 

iodidul, 348. 

praparate, 341. 

protoiodur des, 348. 
Quillaia, 419. 
Quina, 512. 

acetica, 514. 
Quinia, 512 (for its salts, see Quinine.) 
Quinise sulphas impurus, 535. 
Quinin, 512. 
Quinina, 512. 
Quininse disulphas, 519. 
Quinine, 512. 

acetate of, 514. 

citrate of, 515. 

extract of, 535. 

ferrocyanuret of, 516. 

iodide of, 407. 

muriate of, 517. 

nitrate of, 518. 

phosphate of, 518. 

sulphate, 519. 

and cinchoriinc, tannatc of, 534. 
Quininum, 512. 

52 



Quinium, 512. 

Raiz crusadinha, 114. 

preta, 114. 
Reissblei, 270. 

Resina chinae praparata, 536. 
Ringelblume, 117. 
Rosscastanien, 338. 
Russ, 316. 
Rye, corned, 248. 

spurred, 248. 
Sabadillina, 574. 
Saccharum mannse, 415. 
Safran batard, 175. 

de mars aperitif, 175, 318. 

des pres, 1 75. 
Saffron meadow, 175. 
Saint Christophe, herbe, 163. 
Sal essentiale corticis Peruviani, 512. 
Salicina, 536. 
Salicinum, 536. 
Salt of Derosne, 443. 
Salzsaures silber ammonium, 66. 
Sapo domesticus mollis, 540. 

ex oleo et potassa confectus, 540. 

elainicum, 540. 

kalicus, 540. 

mollis, 540. 

niger, 540. 

viridis, 540. 
Satzmehliodur, 407. 
Savon, a base de potasse, 540. 

mou, 540. 

noir, 540. 
Schmierseife, 540. 

griine, 540. 
Schwanzpfeffer, 228. 
Schwarzkorn, 248. 
Schwefelalcohol, 562.. 
Schwefeliodiire, 567. 
Schwefelkohlenstoff, 562. 
Schwererde, iodwasserstoffsaure, 101. 
Schwindelkorner, 228. 
Scorodite, 267. 
Secale clavatum, 248. 

cornutum, 248. 

luxurians, 248. 
Secalis mater, 248. 
Seetang, 160. 
Seife, kali, 540. 

schwarz, 540. 
Seigle, cornu ou corrompu, 248. 

a eperon, 248. 

ivr£, 248. 

noir, 248. 

ergote, 248, 

faux, 248. 
Scl dc Derosne, 443. 

essentiel d'opium, 443. 
Senfbl, atherisehes, 461. 
Serpcntaria) Braziliensis radix, 114. 



G14 



INDEX OF REMEDIES. 



Sidhee, 133. 
Silberoxyd, 69. 

Silberammonium salzsaures, 66. 
Silberoxyd, 69. 
Silber oxydirtes, 69. 

praparate, 62. 

salmiak, 66. 

salzsaures, 65. 

zertheiltes, 70. 
Silver, chloride of, 65. 

chloruret of, 65. 

cyanide of, 67. 

cyanuret of, 67. 

iodide of, 68. 

ioduret of, 68. 

metallic, 70. 

muriate of, 65. 

and ammonia, chloride of, 66. 
chloruret of, 66. 

preparations of, 62. 
Sinapis oleum, 461. 
Snake root, black, 163. 
Soap, soft, 540. 
Soda, arseniate of, 75. 

chlorinata, 543. 

chloruret of, 543. 

chlorite of, 543. 

hypochlorite of, 543. 
Sodse chloridum, 543. 

chloruretum, 543. 

oxymurias, 543. 
Sodii auro-terchloridum, 90. 

chloroplatinas, 482. 
Sodium, auro-terchloride of, 90. 

chloroplatinate of, 482. 

chlorure d'oxide de, 543. 
Solutio alexiteria oxygenata, 153. 

chlorinii, 153. 

ferri nitratis, 293. 
Solution of chlorine, 153. 

de Pearson, 75. 

Fowler's, 75. 

of persesquinitrate of iron, 293. 

of nitrate of iron, 293. 
Soot, 316. 
Souci, 117. 

ordinaire, 117. 
Soude, chlorure de, 543. 
Soufre carbure, 562. 

iodure, 567. 
Species pro vaporibus superoxydi muri- 

atici, 146. 
Spharococcus crispus, 160. 
Spiegelruss, 316. 
Spiritus salis marini dephlogisticatus, 

146. 
Sponsa solis, 117. 
Spur, the, 248. 
Spurge, caper, 265. 

garden, 265. 



Starch, iodide of, 407. 
Starkmehliodiir, 407. 
Stockfisch leberthran, 453. 
Strychnia, 545 . 

acetate of, 558. 

hydriodate of, 559. 

iodate of, 559. 

nitrate of, 560. 

sulphate of 561. 
Strychnin, acetat. 558. 

essigsaures, 558. 

iodsaures, 559. 

saltpetersaures, 560. 

schwefelsaures, 561. 
Strychninum, 545. 

aceticum, 548. 

iodicum, 559. 

nitricum,560. 

sulphuricum, 561. 
Strychnium, 545. 
Subjee, 133. 
Suffitus chlorini, 146. 

oxymuriaticus, 146. 
Sugar of manna, 415. 
Suie, 316. 

Sulfure de carbon, 562. 
Sulphas morphicus, 436. 
Sulphur, iodide of, 567. 
Sulphuret of carbon, 562. 
Sulphuretum carbonii, 562. 
Sulphuris carburetum, 562. 

iodidum, 567. 

ioduretum, 567. 
Suppository, galvanic, 328. 
] Swertia chirayita, 329. 
Tabac de Montagne, 73. 

des Savoyards, 73. 

des Vosges, 73. 
Tangkrauser, 160. 
Tannas plurobi, 486. 
Tannic acid, 34. 
Tanninum, 34. 
Tannin, 34. 
Tar water, 59. 
Tellurismus, 329. 
Terra aluminis, 71. 

aluminosa pura, 71. 

aigillacea pura, 71. 

bolaris, 71. 

sigillata, 71. 
The de seigle noirci des sages-femmes 
Americanes, 262. 
J Theerwasser, 59. 
j Thierkohle, 136. 
' Thonerde, reine, 71. 
j Thridace, 411. 
Tithymalus latifolius, 265. 
Tue-chien, 175. 
Ulva crispa, 160. 
Urea, 569. 



INDEX OF REMEDIES. 



615 



Uree 569. 

Uricum, 569. 

Ustilago, 248. 

Vallet's furruginous pills, 304. 

Vauquelin, 545. 

Veratria, 572. 

sulphate of, 581. 
Verrucaria, 117. 
Vieillotte, 175. 
Vinaigre de bois, 213. 
Violine, 243. 
Voltaism, 324. 
Voiaicina, 111. 
Vomic nut, 446. 
Wallnussbaum, 408. 
Walnut tree, 408. 
Wasserstoffblausaure, 17. 
Water, bitter almonds of, 58. 

tar, 59. 
Weidenbitter, 556. 
Weidenstoff, 536 
Weisensafran, 175. 
Winter green, 143. 
Wintergrun, holdenbliihtigen, 143. 
Wohlverlei, 73. 
Wohlverleidl, 73. 
Wolfstrapp wolliger. 99. 
Woodsoot, 316. 
Zeitlose, 175. 
Zinc, butter of, 582. 

chloride of, 582. 

cyanuret of, 587. 

ferrocyanate of, 588. 

ferrohydrocyanate of, 588. 



Zinc, hydrochlorate of, 587. 

hydrocyanate of, 587. 

iodide of, 591. 

muriate of, 582. 

prussiate of, 582. 
Zinci butyrum, 582. 

chloridum, 582. 

chloruretum, 582. 

cyanhydras, 587. 

cyanidum, 587. 

cyanuretum, 587. 

ferrohydrocyanas, 588. 

iodidum, 591. 

ioduretum, 591. 
Zincum borussicum, 587. 

chloratum, 582. 

cyanogenatum, 587. 

ferrohydrocyanicum, 588. 

hydrocyanicum, 587. 

iodatum, 591. 

muriaticum (oxydatum), 582. 

saiitum, 582. 

zooticum, 587. 
Zinkbutter, 582. 
Zinkchlorid, 582. 
Zinkchloriir, 582. 
Zinkcyanur, 587. 
Zinkeisenblausaures, 588. 
Zinkeisencyaniir, 588. 
Zinkiodiir, 591. 
Zinkoxyd blausaures, 587. 

eisenoxydul, 588. 
Zinkoxyd salzsaures, 582. 
Zinkoxydul blausaures, 587. 
Zoomagnetismus, 329. 



THE END. 



